CP9 on Remnant
by bourbon990
Summary: A young CP9 operative somehow crash lands on the world of Remnant. He decides to retire and have a nice quiet life by opening up a small cafe. How long will his peace last until it comes crumbling down around him?
1. Chapter 1 - Retirement

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 1 - Retirement

* * *

Yury Lloyd was rather confused. Being the youngest person ever to be nominated to become part of the (in)famous CP Aigis 0 (at the age of 15), it was safe to say the young Cipher Pol agent has been through and seen _a lot_. The young man mastered all forms of **Rokushiki** including the fabled **Rokuougan** by the age of 13. And mastered both the **Busoshoku (Armament)** , and **Kenbunshoku (Observation) Haki** two years after that (Shame he didn't possess the third type, but then again, very few actually did). Even years before being nominated to the CP-0, ignoring the fact that he was already at a mid-tier CP-0 level by that time, the sheer amount of missions and pirates he had successfully taken on ( _officially_ ) was just a few short of passing a thousand. Granted, most of those said missions were "boring" espionage or purge missions, almost all of them had the difficulty level said to be bordering on "impossible". Nowadays, the young man was _very_ hard to surprise. But even he found his current predicament as somewhat strange.

"I'd hate to state the obvious but…" he muttered quietly to himself. "Where am I?"

He was quite literally in the middle of nowhere with nothing but sands as far as his eyes can see. The air was hot and dry, the plant life was nonexistent, and as for water… heh, what's water? His Cipher Pol issued full black suit (and gloves) under the blistering sun wasn't helping his case either.

He was beginning to feel hints of irritation bubbling within him, before sighing silently to himself. _'Perhaps I should think things through a bit more carefully from now on before letting myself get talked into participating in one of Doctor's 'silly' little side projects.'_

Dr. Vegapunk was indeed every bit brilliant as he was known to be, but Yury couldn't help but think that the esteemed doctor had (more than) a few screws loose, and was in a desperate in need of some professional help. He managed to befriend the doctor when he had accepted to bodyguard/escort him to his next facility just so he can avoid writing out his _blasted_ past mission reports.

Yury hated writing out reports, or any paperworks for that matter.

They weren't on the level of friends but more on the side of a pleasant acquaintances. And it wasn't long before Yury got talked into the doctor's little game of: "I wonder what will happen if I do this, to that?" And now, after their little "fun", the young agent was stranded in the middle of God knows where without even knowing where the nearest civilizations or any hints of sentient life (if there were any) could be.

Speaking of life...

 _Hisssssssssssss!_

"Hm? Oh… I forgot about you guys." He was taken out of his silent musing when he remembered he wasn't quite alone.

Surrounding the young man were dozens of creatures that looked like one of Dr. Vega's early lab experiments. He could guess it was early since these "scorpions" didn't seem to have any lasers strapped onto their bodies. Other than their size, the doctor would have considered them, how did he put it, "utterly mundane and severely lacking in originality".

 _HHIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSS!_

As if sensing his thoughts and Dr. Vega's comment about them, these "scorpions" started to hiss even louder.

They started closing in on him.

Most would have panicked, screamed and cried. Many would have tried to run, and a good number would have simply given up. For Yury Lloyd, the first thing that came to his mind after seeing their charge was,

"Damn… did I bring my wallet?"

The answer to his query came in the form of multiple stingers rocketing towards his body, mere seconds away from running him through.

He sighed, loudly this time.

Time slowed down for him as he silently thought, _**'Soru'**_.

' _Just another day in the office I guess._ ' were his afterthought.

* * *

When a Death Stalker sensed a human so very far away from any civilization, it screeched in excitement and bloodlust at the thought of having such an easy prey. Said excitement was soon toned down by the slight disappointment when it noticed a number of its brethren were heading towards the same direction. But unlike most of its brothers, it considered itself rather mellow and decided that there would be no harm in sharing. Its excitement was further toned down when even more joined. No matter how the grimm looked at it, there simply wasn't enough in a single human to go around for a dozen Death Stalkers. Nonetheless, it wasn't one to miss a good kill and forged on after a quiet hiss equivalent of a whine.

When it arrived it noticed there indeed was a human, but there was something… off about him. Its senses indicated that its scent was rather foreign. Even his "aura" felt a bit strange. Yet its brothers didn't seem to either notice or care enough to pause. Soon they had the lone human surrounded.

But the human further displayed his strangeness when he showed not an ounce of fear.

It couldn't see it. It couldn't sense it. It was annoyed.

A single one of them was enough to send an entire town cowering in fear and yet, this human was treating them as if they were some minor pests! By the rumbling hiss of its brothers, they seemed to share its sentiments. It didn't take long for them to charge in unison.

When their stingers were mere moments before piercing the arrogant human, what greeted them wasn't the satisfying _squelch_ of their stingers piercing his flesh, but string of _thuds_ of their stingers hitting the empty space and ground where the human was occupying seconds ago.

Before any of them could realize what was going on, it heard a soft yet sharp sound of a wind. Then…

 _PAIN!_

Immense pain erupted from its sides not a moment after.

It only took a moment to realize that it was dying.

Mustering its last ounce of strength, it turned its head to see the state of its brethren. If it had any eyelids, its eyes would have been opened wide in both surprise and slight, dare it say, fear.

Not a single one of them were left standing, all cut cleanly in half (horizontally might it add). And it didn't take long for its top half to slowly slide out from its bottom half, the last thing it remembered being the silhouette of the human standing few feet away from them before it too joined its brothers in the darkness.

* * *

' _Why is it so popular to call out attacks when it's much deadlier to simply not say anything at all?'_ were Yury's thoughts soon after he silently called out _**'Rankyaku'**_ in his mind.

The result of his attack did not surprise him (though the immediate disintegrating of the corpses did raise his eyebrows). Simply having been considered being given a position in the CP-0 division, he was already on the top 5% in terms of combative prowess within both the Marines and Cipher Pol agency combined. His doriki was among the highest compared to anyone excluding the top members of the CP-0. His single Rankyaku was potent enough to slice clean through four or five standard marine battleships on a bad day.

Cutting down a handful of overgrown arachnids? A child's play.

"In any case, I should really get out of here." He quietly said to himself as he tried to sense for any high concentration of _auras._ (AN: The One Piece wiki actually used the term aura to describe the observation haki)

'Huh, that's unusual'

It only took seconds to locate a place containing the highest concentration of auras, despite the said place being a half a continent away. It was strange, people on this place had much more pronounced auras compared to most he was familiar with. Then there were those that had their auras quite literally screamed _NOTICE ME!_ at him. It intrigued him. He was curious.

' _Just where exactly on the New World am I?'_ were his last thoughts before he disappeared with a quiet breeze.

* * *

If Yury was curious before, he was downright fascinated now. He wasn't anywhere _near_ the New World at all! In fact, he was beginning to suspect this place simply wasn't the world he called home in the first place. When he first arrived at the city, he couldn't recognize a single thing about it. Given both the size of this city and the nature of his job, the fact that it was completely new to him was a _very_ interesting fact to him. A second form of surprise came as what the locals called "faunus". He originally dismissed them as some zoan devilfruit users flaunting their powers, but his theory became less and less convincing as he came across more and more of them, some even overlapping each other in the zoan "models". His last surprise came when he requested a map from the local gift shop. It cemented the fact that he was no longer in his home world since not only was he in a never heard of before place called Vacuo, but also in a entirely new world called Remnant.

' _Now what?'_ the young agent asked himself.

Being from a world where corruption was pretty much part of its culture, he never really liked being part of its law enforcement organizations. Even after being hailed as a prodigy, he would've left without a second thought if it wasn't for the fact that his good friend and mentor Vice Admiral Kuzan (after his recent promotion) was still serving in the Marines. Being an orphan who had to survive on the streets for a good portion of his early childhood, Yury wasn't one to easily forget his debts since any form of kindness without any strings attached was rarely shown to him. So when Kuzan took him under his wing all those years ago, Yury could really only do one thing to repay his debt: show him that taking him off the unforgiving streets was a worthy investment. It was a shame that the World Government was every bit as corrupt as he believed it to be. Yet despite the varying levels depravity displayed by some of its " _esteemed_ " officials, Yury simply tuned it all out and focused on his training.

Before he knew it, he was being hailed as a prodigy.

Before he knew it, he was placed in the Cipher Pol branch that supposedly did not exist.

The Cipher Pol Unit 9.

When Yuri first met Chief Spandine, the first word that came to his mind was a "careerist". Although the chief wasn't the most unpleasant person to be around, he certainly was up there. It was a wonder that he was actually able to get married; Yury often genuinely wondered if the woman was a masochist.

By that point in his life, Yury considered his debt to Kuzan paid in full.

Yet he still stuck around.

Yury still didn't understand why he didn't leave the moment he decided that his debt to his friend has been repaid. When he first came to the Marineford to be trained, he swore to himself that he would leave the second the debt was paid in full. But he found himself caring less and less about the sentiment.

Perhaps he had grown desensitized to the corruptions and hypocrisies of the World Government.

Perhaps he realized there wasn't anything he could do about it that would actually matter.

Maybe he simply became too lazy to care.

"I still blame that lazy son of a gun for rubbing that off on me" the young agent deadpanned before breaking out in a chuckle without any mirth.

Realizing that the chances of seeing that lazy fool was little to none did put a little damper on his mood, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Despite only being 19, the things he had done in the name of "justice" really made him search high and low for ways that would allow him to retire without having to look behind his back every five minutes or so for sign of any World Government "janitors".

Up until now, he found none.

But now?

' _Sorry Kuzan, but I'm really sick and tired of being the tenryuubito's lapdogs and willingly finding my way back to them would be the last thing I'd do. I hope you understand... and besides,'_ he thought casually, while making his way to where all the up-to-date and relevant information hub was most likely located. _'you would've done the same thing in my shoes.'_

Yury Lloyd, now the former CP9 agent and CP-0 nominee, lazily made his way to the seedier parts of Vacuo.

* * *

Emil was unnerved. No, scratch that, he was seconds from losing his mind.

When he overheard his grunts bringing news of an easy score, he decided to join them on the raid but not without a good amount of skepticism. Yet when he saw the said "easy score" himself, he couldn't have agreed more to his men's assessment.

Their target was pretty much the very definition of a "pretty boy". The young man had a messy dark brown hair that made him look like he just got out of bed. He also had a somewhat skinny physique and was fairly tall at the approximate height of 6'2". He wore what was most likely a tailor made suit, and it looked like something that would have cost a fortune. And coupled with a glasses on his admittedly handsome face, he gave off an air of educated high nobility.

In other words, he stuck out like a sore thumb considering where he was at.

A REALLY sore thumb.

Soon, they started to tail the pretty boy, and he thought they were doing a decent job at it since their target kept walking to even shadier places without a care in the world. When they finally cornered him in a particularly dark alley, instead of panic or fear, all they got out of the young man was a lazy, yet exasperated,

"About time you jokers corner me."

Before any of them could question him, he simply disappeared. And the next thing he knew, he was being held up to a wall by his throat.

At this point, Emil was frantic.

He tried to scream, but the iron grip of the man in front of him prevented him from doing so.

He tried kicking, but it was like trying to kick a steel wall. Not to mention it only served the man in front of him to tighten his grip on his throat even further.

When he tried to look to his lackeys for help, he froze.

They were all on the ground choking on their own blood with what seemed like bullet holes on various parts of their body.

' _I didn't hear any gun shots!? How!? Did he have friends? Is he a hunts-'_

Emil was broken out of his panic ridden thoughts when he heard their supposed prey clear his throats.

"Greetings, I do apologize that our first meeting had to be like this but I'm in a bit of a hurry. I hope you understand..." the man said with a hint of amusement.

He nodded frantically.

"Excellent! Thank you for understanding. Now on to the business…" the man's nonchalance at the whole situation was really starting to unnerve Emil. "I suppose I am what most would consider a "tourist" to this part of the land, and I want to know _everything_ there is to see and know about. Any idea where I can start?" He finished with a small smile.

Emil did not miss the emphasis on the word, and he told everything and anything he knew about any and all the underground information brokers he knew of and how to find them.

When Emil finished his wild blubbering, the man had a thoughtful look on his face. Seeing the opportunity Emil desperately cried, "P-please, that's all I know! Please don't kill me!"

When the man turned his face to smile at him, he felt a sliver of hope. Said hope soon turned to despair when he felt an immense pain erupt from his chest. When he looked down, he saw the man's finger was buried deep enough to easily pierce his heart. The man removed his hands from Emil's throat, allowing him to fall like a puppet with its strings cut. The last thing he heard was the grim reaper's lighthearted comment,

"Sure _I'll_ let you go but…" he looked around. "It is extremely unfortunate that you and a number of your friends had a disagreement amongst yourselves that quickly dissolved into infighting, which lead to you tragically dying by the hands of those you once considered friends as a result."

"... And considering that this isn't the most reputable part of the town, investigation probably won't go any further than that." he added in a tone that almost sounded like an afterthought.

"In any case, I thank you for helping a poor stranger out, and I wish you safe travels in your passage to afterlife."

And with his last piece said, the man silently walked away as Emil's already lifeless eyes gazed onto his back.

* * *

' _You know…'_ the young former agent mused. _'It really is just another day in the office.'_ The ex-agent thought with some amusement as he looked at his newly acquired ID along with what the locals called "scrolls" For a guy who was used to talking to snails for long-range communications, it was a pretty nifty gadget.

For Yury, the past few hours spent in Vacuo was… a bit mundane actually. It wasn't any different from his days in the CP9 when he was tasked with long term espionage.

First thing he needed to do was to gather intel, and gathered he did. It took a little longer than he would have liked, but he eventually was able to find someone who actually had the information that was useful to him. Third time indeed was the charm for him.

' _But then again, the last guy's group had the most numbers, so chances one of them knowing something was relatively high I suppose'_ the young man reasoned.

The meeting with the broker has been somewhat amusing for the young man. The older male probably thought the "boy" in front of him was in over his head when the ex-CP9 agent barged into his office unannounced. But he quickly changed his tune when he noticed his guards behind the intruder. Well, what's left of them anyway. After a short introduction, the old broker was rather eager to please the young man. So as he's always done before, Yury milked the old criminal for all he knew.

When all was said and done, for the first time in what felt like years, Yury couldn't help but burst out in a mirthful laughter.

It would be his luck that he would crash land on a world where everyone came with their very own (albeit dormant) devilfruit powers and only thing they had to do to awaken it was to awaken their "auras".

Just thinking about few of his colleagues that often ranted about the difficulty of obtaining the fruit was enough to send the young man back into a fit of laughter.

After getting over his thoughts on his "poor" co-workers (and ignoring the look he got from the other male), he tried to unlock this "aura" after hearing its description from the man across him. The way this "aura" worked was surprisingly similar to the way **Busoshoku (Armament) Haki** functioned. So when he tried to feel for something similar within his "soul", while it took a few minutes, he eventually felt it. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted with the sight of a gaping broker, and a soft grey glow that enveloped his body. He did feel the slight increase of his strength and durability, but it was nothing to lose your head about.

The other information wasn't as interesting as auras and semblances, but they were useful nonetheless.

Dust: Meh, he's seen far stranger rocks in Dr. Vega's chem. labs.

Politics and current events: people discriminating those who they perceive as different. What's new? But he had to wonder, despite being physically superior to "humans" in almost every way, how the faunus manage to get themselves in such predicament was beyond him. Shouldn't it be the exact opposite?

Grimm: the blight of the world. If the tenryuubitos were the all-encompassing symbol of corruption and depravity in his world, then he supposed the grimm were this world's version of it.

And lastly: the Huntsmen and Huntresses. Basically the Marines of this world.

When he was satisfied with his intake of basic knowledge and current events, he asked for ways to obtain IDs. The broker was only too happy to obtain it for him. Now, according to his "records", he was an orphan who was brought from a small village outside the city walls when the said village was overrun by grimm. He recently graduated from a civilian school, and has been doing odd jobs ever since.

Yury Lloyd was now a proud citizen of Vacuo.

' _Another day in the office indeed'_ he thought as he nonchalantly made his way through the onlookers that's gathered to watch the burning office few blocks away from them.

' _Such a shame they had a gas leak, and no one was quick enough to make it outside.'_ Yury airily thought. _'And their boss was even kind enough donate a good amount of money he had on his safe.'_ The briefcase that he held was the proof of it.

A small part of him did pity them; they were probably just trying to survive on the unforgiving streets. He should know as a former street rat. But he also knew what they had most likely done in order to climb to the top of the ruthless underworld. He will probably forget about them in the next week or so. Besides, he had gone through this routine countless time when he was on a mission. Leaving any form of witness could become a liability to him.

"It's probably a good thing that this is my final mission." The young man silently reckoned.

Despite the nature of his (now former) job and how good at it he was, he never enjoyed killing. In fact, during the days when he was just a recruit, he regularly had to come up with different stories of how his targets died in order to cope with the guilt. After a while, it kind of stuck with him as a habit even after he no longer felt anything when he killed. Still, the fact that he no longer needed to eliminate anyone (hopefully) came as a small comfort to the young man.

As he passed one of the shops, a reflection of him drew his eyes. More specifically, it was what rested on the collar of his dress shirt that had his attention.

It was a small badge. A badge depicting the World Government's insignia. The final relic of his old life. After a short pause, he came to a decision.

"I, Yury Lloyd," he quietly announced to no one in particular as he silently plucked the badge off. "Hereby declare myself officially retired from the Cipher Pol. It was a pleasure working with you all." As he finished his small farewell, he crushed the badge before tossing it over his shoulder where it would be lost forever to the sands of Vacuo.

Yury couldn't help but smile.

* * *

As he gazed at the city below from his hotel veranda, Yury was in a deep thought. Quietly sipping his glass of bourbon, he pondered about his next course of action. Now that he was actually free of any responsibilities and obligations, he was somewhat at a loss at what to do from this point on.

He could stay in Vacuo, but the weather was a bit too warm for his taste. The same goes for Atlas, but for the opposite reason. Menagerie sounded interesting, but while he had nothing against the faunus, the opposite may not be the case. Unnecessary attention was the last thing he needed on his retirement life. So that left Vale and Mistral for the young retiree.

On one hand, there was Vale, a nice quiet kingdom that was quite literally right next door from Vacuo. But he didn't want his retirement to be too boring. On the other hand, there was Mistral, a kingdom with great culture and diversity. And its extensive underworld, given the right location to settle, almost guaranteed a front row seat for some prime entertainments. But there was a chance that he might get involved in these said "shows" if he got too close. The last thing he wanted was to come back _out_ of his retirement.

Each had their own appeal and each had their own downsides.

' _Well, nothing's preventing me from leaving when things get boring.'_ he thought after some deliberation.

In the end, the young man settled for a coin toss to decide where to visit first. And after seeing the result, a small smirk made its way to his face.

"Well…" he droned. "I hear Mistral is nice this time around."


	2. Chapter 2 - Humble Shopkeeper

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 2 - Humble Shopkeeper

* * *

On a bustling streets of Mistral was a small cafe named _'Silence is Golden'_. Unlike the shops nearby, which had its employees hard at work by enthusiastically tending to their respective customers, the cafe was the picture perfect of calm.

Probably because it was completely devoid of people except for one person.

The young owner, Yury.

About a year have passed since he had come to Mistral and became the proud owner of this fine establishment. So far, he was fully enjoying his retirement. No more orders from top, no more black ops missions, and most importantly, no more paperwork. And in exchange, he could sleep in when he wanted, he could nap anytime he wanted, and finally, he could skip work when he wanted.

Like now.

The young owner was snoring away on one of his shop's sofas, seemingly delightfully oblivious to anything that was going on around him. The soft melody of _Clair De Lune_ playing in the background lulled him into even deeper slumber.

Life was good for Yury Lloyd.

That was until his haki sensed a certain customer with obnoxiously high levels of aura walk in, disrupting his delicious nap and soon, his precious retirement.

* * *

A hooded figure could be seen walking down the streets of downtown Mistral. Her somewhat tall figure drew a lot of eyes, but her obvious foul mood made her unapproachable for most.

The teen couldn't help but sigh wearily when she saw a giant billboard depicting a certain redheaded champion. That was the third billboard featuring the redhead that she came across in the last five minutes!

' _Won't they give it a rest already!?'_ she thought angrily.

 _Pyrrha Nikos. The Pride of Mistral!_ The billboard boastfully stated.

"Haaaaa…" She sighed heavily. She needed a place to clear her head.

Just as she was about to continue on her little walk, she noticed a small cafe across the road. It was completely devoid of customers.

' _Perfect'_ she thought as she quickly made her way across the road.

'" _Silence is Golden" huh?'_ she mused.

' _Exactly what I needed.'_ Thought the girl as she made her way into the cafe, completely missing the sign that read "Closed" right next to the door.

When she entered, she was immediately greeted with a soothing melody of piano that she couldn't quite recall the name of.

' _I like this place already.'_

As the girl appraised the cafe she noticed something odd. There were no employees to escort her to her seat or to take her order.

' _Odd… '_ she thought as she ventured deeper into the cafe.

Then, she noticed something.

A barely audible rumbles of snoring under the soothing melody.

Like a moth drawn to a flame, she followed the sound. As she walked towards the source, she felt small hints of trepidation bubbling within her. And for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

Before she knew it, she found the source of the sound.

Hidden behind the tables, was a tall man snoring away on one of the sofas. He was dressed like a waiter, but with a simple grey vest, black dress shirt, and a white tie. He had a fedora resting on his face, so she couldn't tell what he looked like. He was probably-

"Didn't you see the sign next to the door?"

"Eeeek!" So startled was she by the man's sudden inquiry, she actually fell back on her bottom. Unfortunately, her hood came off in the process, which revealed her face to the man in front of her to see.

Her most noticeable feature was her bright red hair. Her vibrant emerald-green eyes were also very hard to miss. And many would have considered her a beauty.

' _Great…'_ she thought as she wearily looked up to observe the man's reaction.

But whatever she expected from the man in front of her, it wasn't the sight of him with an raised eyebrow and an exasperated yet somewhat amused expression on his face.

"Well?" the now sitting up man asked again.

Remembering his earlier question, she quickly answered. "N-no?"

He sighed. "The sign read 'Closed'."

Realizing what that meant, she quickly bowed her head to apologize. "O-oh! I'm sorry, I didn-"

"Whatever." He interrupted. "I suppose it was partially my fault for not locking up the place before I decided to take a nap, and I was going to get up soon anyway."

When she looked up to thank him, her words got caught on her throat. Now that she had the chance to take a good look at the person in front of her, she couldn't help but blush slightly. He was tall, and while somewhat thin at first glance, she could tell he was surprisingly well built. His half-lidded steel grey eyes were looking at her with such intensity, she couldn't help but get lost in them. His glasses adoring his sharp face only added on to his charm and gave him the 'mature-adult' look. Dark brown hair as dark and rich as her favorite chocolate cake fell in short messy locks around his head. His slightly tanned face further accentuated his steel grey orbs. He was an elegant male beauty bordering on exotic.

She was broken out of her small trance when she heard a sound of chuckling.

A lopsided grin was adoring the man's face.

"Done ogling me yet?" he asked with barely concealed amusement.

She stammered as her blush intensified. "I-I-I wasn- I mean-"

"Uh-huh, whatever you say kid." He said as another chuckle escaped his throat.

"I'm not a kid…" She mumbled in a volume barely above a whisper.

Apparently it wasn't quiet enough. "I'll believe it when you learn how to read, kid." The man drawled as he walked past her, but not before patting her head as if she was a child.

After grumbling something unintelligible, the girl followed him to one of the tables in the cafe.

She was impressed at what he was able to prepare in such short notice.

What he brought her looked like what was served in some high society tea party. When she was about to politely decline, he beat her to it and said that it was on the house since the cafe was still technically "Closed".

"So… What's your name?" she asked after some deliberation.

He answered her question with another question. "Shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking for mine?"

That simple question caused her thoughts to come to a grinding halt. Her mind was running a mile a minute now. _'Should I tell him? He didn't seem to recognize my face, but what if he recognizes my name? Wha-'_

"I'm waiting" he pressed.

Too afraid to look at his reaction, she dropped her head slightly so that her bangs covered her eyes. In a voice that was barely audible, she replied, "...Pyrrha Nikos."

"Yury Lloyd." Came the casual reply.

Now named Pyrrha's head snapped up, eyes wide, mouth agape. A small involuntary sound of surprise escaped her throat. "...eh?"

"Hmm?" he looked at her with the same lazy, half-lidded eyes. But there was a very subtle glint in them now. "Have we met before?" He asked airily.

"N-no! I was just surprised you haven't heard of me…" She cursed herself at her slip.

"Should I have?" he asked with a slightly raised brow.

It was a moment of truth. After a deep breath and steeling herself, Pyrrha answered. "I'm a two times champion of the Mistral regional tournament".

The silence was deafening.

After a few awkward seconds, Yury finally answered. "Um… Congratulations?"

He more asked than answered.

"You haven't heard of it?" She asked with not an insignificant amount of hope bubbling within her.

He had a thoughtful look on his face before answering, "Can't say I have… My apolo-"

"No it's fine!" She replied a bit too quickly.

He gave her a look.

"I mean… _ahem_ , It's no problem at all." She answered with as much of what composure and dignity she had left of.

The look did not go away.

Eventually, she gave in.

She told him everything. Although she started off nice and easy, she quickly lost control of her emotions. Soon, it was as if the veritable floodgates have opened. All her frustrations, all her anger, and all her loneliness was laid out bare before him. She didn't know what caused her to pour all her heart out to a stranger she'd only met hours ago like this, but once she started going, she simply couldn't stop herself.

When she finished, she was breathing heavily, and her eyes started to sting with sign of tears.

But when her mind caught up to the situation, she was ashamed. Ashamed because she just made a total stranger listen to her rant and rave like a lunatic.

But just as she made up her mind to apologize, she felt something on her head, accompanied by an amused yet gentle voice.

"You really are just a kid."

That broke her.

She latched onto him as if he was her only lifeline, knocking them both onto the floor. Ignoring the slight stiffening of his body, she buried her head into his chest and cried her heart out. She only cried harder when she felt him trying to comfort her by awkwardly stroking her hair. In other situations, she would have giggled at his attempt, but now, the thought of a total stranger trying to comfort her without any ulterior motive touched her deeply. And for hours, she cried in his chest, greedily drinking up his warmth to fill her lonely heart.

* * *

"Feeling better?" asked a calm voice.

The answer came not in words, but in silent nod from the girl who was still latched on to the young cafe owner.

After a few moment of silence, the young man asked once more, while holding out a slice of chocolate cake that he produced from somewhere.

"Would you like some chocolate?"

This time, the young girl looked up to him with a questioning look.

"My past experience dictates that ladies usually crave sweets when they become emotionally unstable." he lazily replied with a lopsided grin.

Ignoring the strange feeling she got when she heard about his experiences with women, she nodded quietly. But when the young man held the plate up to her, she simply buried her face back in his chest. Just as he was about to ask her what was wrong, he heard a quiet mumble coming from the girl in his arms.

"Come again?" he asked straining to hear her.

"...feed me" came the quiet and timid response.

"..."

"..."

The silence was broken when a loud laughter filled with amusement pierced the empty cafe.

"You do know that now I won't be able to live this 'kid' thing down ever again right?" His voice was filled with barely concealed mirth and amusement as he prepared to feed the girl.

Whatever intimidation she held in her glare was ruined by her red and puffy eyes. In fact, it made her glare look rather adorable.

Silence descended in the cafe once again as the young man dutifully fed the little princess in his arms. But the silence was soon broken when a small voice asked,

"Can I come again?"

Her question was filled with so much hope that he couldn't help but break out in a small chuckle once more.

He simply answered, "Aren't little brats like you supposed to do whatever you wanted?"

He felt her arms around his waist tighten slightly as she buried her face in his chest once more.

"Mm…" he heard her answer, while completely missing the brightest of smiles that was adoring her face.

* * *

"Well…" he said to no one in particular, while looking at the darkening sky out the window. "That was a thing."

After a copious amount of coaxing and future promises, the young owner was finally able to convince the little champion to go home.

The whole ordeal has been somewhat draining for him. Despite his incredibly extensive knowledge in the art of seducing women, his skills were usually catered towards those women who thrived in the dark side of the world. Hence, he was rather out of his comfort zone when it came to comforting a kid who probably had not a single clue about the unsightly truth of human nature. Any party tricks he knew would have backfired spectacularly. Plus, he was used to dealing with older women, not some 15 year old bundle of emotions.

And now, it appeared that the little champion had developed some kind of attachment to him. He didn't know how to feel about that. While it was a novel experience for the former assassin, he wasn't sure if he would make the best role model for the impressionable 15 year old kid.

He used to be a CP9 operative for crying out loud! A good one at that too!

Even after a year of retirement, old habits die hard. When he thought the girl had somehow recognized him, the first thing that came to his mind was the CP9 protocol of leaving no witnesses.

Yury was still somewhat annoyed at himself for assuming the worst like that. It reminded himself of who he still was at his core.

"Haaaa" a weary sigh escaped his throat. He needed to sort his thoughts through with a nice glass of bourbon.

As he made his way to his private bar in the back, his thoughts wandered back to the kid he held in his arms just an hour ago. He still remembered the pure look of adoration she had in her eyes whenever she looked at him. As much as it flattered the young man, it made him uncomfortable just as much.

"Hopefully that's just a phase." the young owner quietly prayed.

* * *

Pyrrha couldn't help the little bounce on her steps. Despite the slight pain in her eyes from her previous breakdown, she couldn't be happier.

In fact, she was ecstatic!

Just when she was beginning to think that she forever will be alone up in the pedestal that people put her on, just when her frustration was beginning to boil over, just when her loneliness was reaching its peak, she found him.

Yury Lloyd.

He saved her from the darkness in her heart. He saved her from the darkness that would have consumed her whole.

Just thinking about him was enough to elevate her mood even further. He didn't put her on a pedestal, and he didn't look at her like she's some trophy to be won. The fact that he was so different from other people (especially boys) outside her family made him all the more special in her eyes.

But it did somewhat annoyed her that he treated her like a child. She was a strong, independent girl of 15 years of age. Practically an adult! For reasons she couldn't understand, it bothered her more than it she thought it would.

It was confusing.

The young champion was surprised at how much she enjoyed the feeling of getting pampered and spoiled, evidence that she was still a child at heart. Yet when he told her as such, inexplicable indignation would well up within her.

Very confusing.

' _I should look into it later.'_ She noted as a yawn escaped her.

For the young champion, the day has been a emotional roller coaster, and experiencing such variety of emotions in such a short interval understandably took a toll on her mind. But even then, her eyes looked more alive than it ever had. Yet, under the overflowing life and joy it displayed, her emerald green orbs burned with steely determination.

She had lost so much to her fame, and she will be damned if she lost more.

At that moment, a certain cafe owner almost choked on his drink after the inexplicable chill that went down his spine.


	3. Chapter 3 - Stress

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 3 - Stress

* * *

 _-Somewhere on Mistral forest-_

' _ **Rankyaku'**_

A blade of wind sliced through a platoon of Beowolves and Ursai, ending their unnatural lives. Many howled in pain, their death rattle bringing even more of their kind to converge to a certain spot in the forest.

The usually quiet and peaceful forest was now a raging battlefield. Primal roar of rage and madness continuously rang throughout the forest. Dissolving grimm parts were strewn haphazardly on the forest floor. Upturned grounds, rocks, and trees littered the normally lush green terrain.

Countless grimm could be seen converging to a lone figure in the middle of the forest with a single-minded blood lust induced frenzy.

Many charged with a reckless abandon.

Many did not make it to their target.

' _ **Shigan - Ouren'**_

A hand blurred out of existence as countless more bodies fell with holes in various vital spots of their body.

The carnage wasn't limited to terrestrial grimm. An ear-splitting screech that often heralded death and destruction shook the forest.

The figure looked up. When he noticed the flock of aerial grimm cruising towards his position, he simply thought,

' _ **Kamisori'**_

Not a second later, the same figure could be seen high up in the sky mere meters away from the deadly flock. His legs were pulled back, raring for another attack.

' _ **Rankyaku - Gaichou'**_

Before any of the avian grimm could react, every single one of them were bisected by an especially sharp blade of wind.

After reclaiming the air superiority, the figure rocketed back towards the spot in the forest where the grimm were most densely packed together. He was falling unnaturally fast.

' _ **Tekkai - Sai'**_

He crashed with a force of a comet, creating fissures on the ground. The impact was great enough to yield a crater large enough to make a lake out of.

Anything caught within the blast were obliterated.

Silence finally descended in the forest. When all the dust and debris settled, a certain shopkeeper hopped out of the crater.

' _Well that was mildly refreshing'_ he thought nonchalantly.

It has been little over a month since his fateful meeting with the little champion, and he was starting to have second thoughts about letting that cheeky brat come and go as she pleased.

She came trotting in his cafe every chance she had, spending as much time in there as she physically could. She read books there, she did her homework there, she ate her meals there, and she probably would have trained there too if it wasn't for the lack of room. She practically lived with him.

But that wasn't what bothered him.

In fact, he was quite flattered that she enjoyed his presence so much.

No, no, what bothered him was that She. Was. _RUINING._ his retirement!

Every morning, she would stop by his place to wake him up when she was on her morning jog, claiming that it wasn't healthy to be sleeping in like he was.

Her jog started at 4am.

Whenever she caught him taking naps during work, she would wake him up.

Violently.

She claimed that taking naps as often as he did would ruin his circadian rhythm.

Whenever she found out he was skipping work (ignoring the fact that he was his own boss), she would somehow find him, and drag him back so she can have her snack.

He tried pretending he wasn't home once.

She broke his door down to get to him.

Understandably, Yury was a bit peeved. He considered himself a rather easygoing gentleman. But it was starting to get too much even for him.

' _I'm on my retirement for god's sake! I'm not supposed to live like some recruit fresh out of academy dammit!'_ he inwardly cried out to the heavens.

He tried telling her off once.

' _She looked as if someone told her that her entire family has been massacred.'_ the young man recalled.

It took generous amount of cakes, hugs, and coaxing to calm her down even after telling her it was just a joke. She finally smiled once again when he gave her the keys to his place to show that she was welcomed anytime.

He was seriously having second thoughts about giving her his keys.

Understandably, the young man was slightly miffed by the whole situation, but even the ex-assassin didn't have the heart to tell the little champion off again.

So, he settled for the next best thing: taking out his frustration at the local grimm population.

He briefly wondered what the little princess would do if she found out what he's been doing whenever he had his little "outing".

He shivered a little. _'Probably chain me to my bed'_ he thought with slight nervousness.

' _That or demand me to take her with me once she sees me in action'_ came the afterthought.

His musings were cut off when he sensed a herd of stronger than average grimm making its way towards him. When he saw them he broke out in a rare feral grin.

A small herd of Goliaths were charging towards his direction. In a single file no less.

The young man chuckled in amusement. _'How cute.'_ he thought.

' _Probably an overkill, but…'_ he judged as he slowly held out both of his fists in front of his chest. _'Damn it do I still have some steam to blow off!'_ His already feral grin even widened.

When the powerful grimm came within range he simply thought,

' _ **Rokuougan!'**_

* * *

' _Well this is awkward.'_ were Yury's thoughts as he tried his best to focus on preparing his order. It was rather distracting considering the gaze that was currently piercing his back.

When he came back from his little "outing", he was greeted with the sight of a fidgeting little redhead, and someone who looked like an older version of the aforementioned redhead standing just beside her. The only difference was that she had her hair down as opposed to the ponytail.

After he made the connection, he sent them a questioning look. They simply smiled; one sheepish, while the other, serene.

He shrugged with an air of indifference and ushered them in. He asked them what they would like, and haven't said a word since.

And here he was, preparing teas and cakes for the two admittedly beautiful ladies, whilst being under heavy appraisal from the older one.

' _Hope she didn't say anything strange about me'_ he thought as he made his way to them with their respective snacks and drinks.

But the young man was slightly thrown off when the oldest of them suddenly asked,

"Are you a dancer?"

' _Huh, so she's noticed'_ he thought, mildly impressed.

"Nothing more than a hobby I'm afraid." The young man answered smoothly.

His eyes turned slightly mischievous, and with a voice tinted in amusement he lightly inquired, "Do you?"

"Nothing more than a hobby I'm afraid." She parroted with equal amount of amusement.

Sensing an opportunity, he turned his half-lidded eyes to the youngest of them. "Geez kid, if you had such a beautiful sister like her you should have introduced her sooner." He fluidly said as he gracefully took the hand of the older redhead and lightly kissed her knuckles. His lazy voice was tinged with amusement, but it had a generous undertone of teasing.

The sight of the youngest of them turning into a blushing, stuttering mess was priceless, and the young owner had to force down the laugh that was bubbling within him.

"My, what gentleman you are." Came the amused voice. It appears someone shared his sentiment. "But I'm sorry to disappoint you. I am her mother, Thea Nikos."

"Yury Lloyd", he easily replied as he resumed setting the table.

"So I've heard" She said as she picked up her cup, enjoying its fragrant aroma. "Pyrrha has been rather… enthusiastic when talking about you" He didn't miss the slightly strained smile she had towards the end.

' _Damn it kid, there is a reason why a saying "everything in moderation" came into existence.'_ Yury inwardly cried.

After sending a brief deadpanned look towards Pyrrha (and getting a sheepish grin in return), he replied with a curious undertone.

"Nothing bad I hope?"

"Nothing of the sort, I assure you." She said with a smile. The said smile turned slightly mischievous when she turned her gaze towards her daughter. "How could that be when she constantly reminded me and my husband how _amazing_ of a friend you are."

Yury did not miss the emphasis on the word, nor the intensifying blush the younger Nikos had.

"Uh huh…" his tone was slightly skeptical.

"Naturally, we both grew curious." If she heard his skepticism, she didn't show it. "And I decided to see this _amazing_ person for myself, but since my husband was slightly… over eager about meeting you so I figured it was safer to go myself."

"... Indeed." Jealous dads are renowned for their pettiness after all. "I hope I am up to your satisfaction?"

She simply smiled.

"I have to wonder though…" her tone turned slightly serious. "You are not from Mistral, that much I can tell but I cannot pinpoint your origins, so that begs the question… Where are you from?"

' _So the game has begun.'_ he mused idly. _'Half-truths should be enough.'_

"Vacuo." came the smooth answer.

"Oh? Did you run a cafe there as well?" _Previous occupation?_

He answered with a slightly wry smile. "No, actually I used to be part of a cleaning staff for the Vacuo Council." _Council sanctioned assassin._

Nikos matriarch slightly stiffened, yet still maintained her smile.

Her tone held a slight edge however. "Do you still keep in touch with your friends?" _Are you here on a job?_

"Sadly, no. I came to Mistral to have a fresh start, meet new people, have new experience, that sort of thing." _I'm retired._

The older Nikos visibly relaxed at the answer much to Pyrrha's confusion. The little champion was also paying rapt attention to the conversation between her mother and Yury. She missed all the hidden conversation for obvious reasons.

"If I may ask, what made you want to leave?" _Reasons for retirement?_

At that Yury slightly deadpanned at her "Doing the same thing over and over can get really old you know?" _I got tired of killing_.

She gave him a look of understanding. But she had to ask…

"How good were you at your job?"

The young man in front of her seemed to age slightly. He answered with a forlorn smile.

"Too good."

Now it was the Nikos matriarch's turn to look slightly somber. She simply answered, "I see…"

At this point, Pyrrha knew that she was missing something, and made a mental note to either ask her mother or Yury for answers later.

After a short, yet noticeable pause, she resumed her questioning. "So how did you meet my little girl?" _Your intentions with her?_

At that, the young man made no attempt to hide his confusion. "... You should ask her, she was the one who found me, actually." _Um… I don't know? What are_ _her_ _intentions with me?_

Nikos matriarch turned her playful eyes to the suddenly very self-conscious little champion. Sensing the hidden question, she meekly replied, "Later."

Both adults chuckled at her reaction.

"Pyrrha?" When she saw that she had her daughter's attention, she continued. "Could you be a dear and go fetch me some Dust from the usual store? Your father asked for some."

The little Nikos looked uncertain, but she nodded nonetheless. But she did send a quick look to Yury as if to say, _'Good Luck'_.

He thought it was rather cute of her to worry about him.

Once Pyrrha was no longer within earshot, silence briefly descended. It was the Nikos matriarch who broke it first.

"She's quite fond of you, you know?" She was awarded with a quiet groan.

"A bit too fond in my opinion. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing." The ex-CP9 agent said with slight exasperation.

"Oh?" She urged on. "Do tell."

With a quiet sigh, he voiced his concerns. "I'm not sure if I'm the best role model for the impressionable 15 year old, knowing what I once was." His tone turned slightly wistful towards the end.

Just as Thea was about to reassure the young man, he droned on.

"But more importantly," The voice turned whiny. "She won't let me sleep in saying it's bad for my health, and she won't let me nap for the same reason! She also won't let me skip work claiming it's irresponsible, completely ignoring the fact that I'm my own boss!" He sighed. "And I was finally beginning to enjoy my retirement too…" The young man comically slumped in his seat.

The answer to his rant was a muffled giggle from the older Nikos.

"Please forgive her." She said between her fit of giggles, before turning slightly mournful. "It's just that it has been a while since she managed to make a friend, and she just wants to show you that she cares about you."

Although he already figured that was the case (otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered being so gentle with the kid), he simply nodded.

"You know, I can't help but feel guilty whenever I see her." She went on, her tone turning wistful. "After all, I was the one who suggested her to enter the tournament. And she's lost so much because of it." The last part was barely above a whisper.

Yury simply listened attentively.

"Day after day, she would train and work herself to exhaustion, just to cope with her loneliness. She would always have that fake smile on her, even when she's at home. She didn't show it, but as a mother, it was very obvious that she was depressed. It was so rare to see her truly smile nowadays…" At this point, the older Nikos was starting to tear up.

Yury wordlessly offered her his handkerchief, which she took gratefully.

"Imagine my surprise when my little girl came to me and my husband with a beaming smile, telling us of a miracle." She gave him a smile filled with gratitude. "We haven't seen her this happy ever since she won her first tournament." A nostalgic look crossed her face.

Her next action caught him slightly off guard. "Thank You." She said as she bowed deeply.

He wanted to say it was nothing special, but considering the significance of his actions towards Pyrrha, and by extension her parents, saying so would have meant the same as saying her problems were nothing special.

Which was a BIG no-no.

Quickly thinking of an appropriate response, he swiftly replied, "It would have only been a matter of time until she'd find someone. I just happened to be at the right place, at the right time."

Thea's smile still remained while she replied, "Then I thank you for being at the right place, at the right time."

"That being said…" The change in her demeanor was very hard to miss, despite the smile that was still adoring her face.

Then, he felt something that he hasn't felt in years.

Killing intent.

Considering who he once was, it did little to affect his composure but the feeling was still unpleasant.

"Please do know that should your actions or inactions cause pain to my little baby…" The killing intent was reaching its peak, and any lesser man would have been left a shaking mess. "I would be most… displeased." She finished with her usual smile, but none of the previous warmth was present in her eyes.

Nonetheless getting the message he simply replied, "I have no intention of hurting her." The young man replied, every bit as serious as the woman in front of him. It didn't last long however, "I just wish she would let me have my naps." He finished with a lazy, lopsided grin.

Her genuine smile returned as she acknowledged, "Then I leave her in your care." The oppressive pressure disappeared as she said that.

Seemingly satisfied with his words, she finished her tea and rose from her seat. Being the gentleman he was, he escorted her to the door.

"By the way…" Just before exiting, the woman turned her gaze towards him. Her eyes were filled with amusement and mischief. "Pyrrha can be quite passionate when she wants to. Good luck!"

With her last piece said, she vanished into the busy streets of downtown Mistral, leaving behind a trail of laughter.

When her words finally registered in his head, he sighed. Loudly.

"... Give me a break." he lamented.

* * *

When Thea first saw the young man named Yury Lloyd, his unnatural grace and balance immediately caught her attention. Being an ex-huntress herself, it was very easy for her to notice the perfectly even and measured steps. It was extremely rare for civilians to move in such a way, only exception being accomplished dancers.

When she inquired about it, his reply coupled with his slightly amused yet impressed tone indicated that she was not dealing with a simple civilian like she believed she was.

That made her slightly uneasy.

When she learned that he used to be part of an assassination unit, albeit government sanctioned one, it made her _really_ uneasy.

Only after she confirmed that he was no longer part of one was she able to relax slightly. After all, what mother would be happy about her precious daughter befriending an assassin?

But since her little girl has taken such a liking to him, she decided to give the young man the benefit of the doubt and asked for his reasons for leaving.

His answer put her further at ease, since he all but stated that wasn't the type to enjoy spilling blood after all.

But the turning point for her was when the young man showed his maturity, and expressed his concerns about the chance of Pyrrha picking up any undesirable traits from him. It proved that, to some degree, he was looking out for her best interest.

Although she had to admit, his childish rant right afterwards was rather adorable.

Recalling his childish side slightly dampened her mood.

' _He's so young too, he couldn't have been barely older than Pyrrha went he started.'_ Hearing that Yury used to be an accomplished assassin, and also hearing that he quit because he got tired of killing made her heart go out to the poor young man.

It made her wonder if the ex-assassin needed Pyrrha just as much as Pyrrha needed him.

Her silent musings were cut off when she noticed a familiar shade of red hair making its way towards her.

Her puzzled look was rather cute.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" The young Nikos asked with a tone tinged with suspicion as she slightly narrowed her eyes. "You didn't say anything strange while I was gone did you?"

"Of course not dear," she replied smoothly while flashing a smile. "On the contrary, it was I who heard something _very_ interesting." Her smile turned slightly predatory.

"What?" There was a noticeable amount of trepidation lacing the young champion's voice.

"Oh nothing important, just something about you not letting poor Yury sleep much nowadays." The older Nikos looked positively gleeful.

"?... !?"

Her face was probably seconds away from igniting. "W-wha- no- that's not, we are not- huh?"

Her frantic thoughts were interrupted by a melodious laughter. "Don't worry darling, I won't tell your father. He'll probably have a heart attack from shock."

"Mom!" Her indignant cry coupled with a beat red face was so adorable that Nikos matriarch had to restrain herself so that she won't glomp her daughter in the middle of a crowded street.

' _But still…'_ Thea spared another glance at the still fuming little Nikos. _'It's good to see her act her age once again.'_

* * *

"Well?" came the impatient voice.

"Yes, princess?" Yury replied with a slightly strained smile.

"What else did you tell my mother? Even when I was present, I know you two had some hidden secret conversation. And don't try to play it off!"

The young owner couldn't help but groan at that. He's been avoiding the topic for some time now.

It has been about a week since his eventful meeting with Thea Nikos, and it also has been about a week since the little Nikos started to pester him about his past.

It has been a rough week for the young man, his only comfort being that he was now somehow "allowed" to take short naps around noon.

When he asked, _'what's the occasion?',_ all he got was a red-faced champion punching him on the arm. Hard. But he did not miss the muffled curses she said towards her mother under her breath.

Yury made sure to deliver the Nikos matriarch a permanent free pass to his cafe as fast as his **soru** could take him.

Too bad his proverbial oasis was not enough to get him out of the proverbial desert in the form of Pyrrha Nikos. He wondered if this was how it felt to have a nagging, overly curious little sister.

With a heavy sigh, the young man asked, "Do you want the short version or the long version?"

"The long version." Came the swift reply.

"I've had combat training."

"..."

"..."

"... _and_?" The young champion urged with a tone tinged with exasperation.

Yury simply gave her a lazy grin. "That was the long version."

He chuckled at her twitching eyebrows.

"Then how short is the short version!?" She looked like she was seconds from throwing a temper tantrum.

"This short." he simply said with a lopsided grin as he thought, _**'Soru'**_.

Within instant, the young shopkeeper appeared behind his little interrogator who was looking around wildly. He quietly reached out and lightly flicked her ear, making her yelp at his "attack".

It was funny how wide her eyes were.

But with how quickly she regained her composure he supposed being a two times champion of some famous tournament (that everyone but him knew about apparently) wasn't just for a show.

"... Semblance?" She had a deeply concentrated look on her face.

"Nope," Pyrrha was really starting to hate that grin of his. "Just a simple speed technique."

"Then what _is_ your semblance?" The young Nikos asked.

Now it was the young man's turn to have a thoughtful look. "Hmm… I suppose I could tell you," It was probably her imagination that he looked slightly too animated. "But where would the fun be in that?" Or maybe it wasn't.

Just as she was about to slug the male, he gave her a hint. "I'd like to think it's rather subtle, and you won't even notice anything even when I'm using it."

"What is that even mean!?" Yury thought she looked like a tomato with how red her face was.

"Now, now, that is for me to know, and for you," He pointed at her "to figure it out."

One second, she looked like she was mere moments away from exploding, then… her face went flat, completely devoid of any previous emotions. The change was so abrupt that it unnerved the young man slightly.

"So you're trained huh?" asked the emotionless voice.

"Uh… Yea?" Now it was his turn to sweat a bit.

"Good, now we can go clear out some grimm together when we have time. I was starting to get bored of only going with my dad." She smiled at him.

"... I see you are upset, I'm -"

"I'm not upset, whatever made you think that Yury?" interrupted the overly chipper voice. "I simply want our kingdom to stay safe."

"But what about my free time!?" Yury could already feel his peaceful life slowly crumbling around him.

"Oh Yury…" She drawled. By this point, her smile turned mildly sadistic. "Don't you mean _our_ free time?"

Yury Lloyd for the first time in decades, felt like crying. And after a long, suffering sigh filled to the brim with his frustrations, annoyance, and acceptance, he quietly muttered to himself.

"The things I do for this little brat..." He was beginning to wonder if he was a masochist.

* * *

 **AN** : Thank you for all the feedbacks! When I first wrote this, I never thought others would enjoy it so much. Unfortunately however, I won't be able to update as quickly as I've done in the past few days. Exam season coupled with the fact that I have yet to start on ch 4 (just some ideas on notes) are going to delay the chapter updates slightly. I will however, try my best to get one up by the end of the week. Until then, have a good one guys! :)

P.s. Sorry if some of you thought this notification was a new chapter (mainly for mobile app guys), I know I hate it when the same thing happens to me. I just corrected some grammar and spelling mistakes that I've noticed last night.


	4. Chapter 4 - Specter

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 4 - Specter

* * *

Yury couldn't help but wonder if he had been sent here on Remnant as some form of divine retribution for all those lives he's taken. Perhaps this was his purgatory, his limbo, his-

"Let's go check out that store next!"

His wallowing in self-pity was cut off when the energetic champion yanked him by his arm, and dragged him to the said store.

The former CP9 agent was currently experiencing the every man's worst nightmare, their hell on earth, their bane of existence. Yury was experiencing the life of a pack mule in the middle of a shopping mall.

Like the vast majority of male species, Yury did not enjoy shopping. At all.

According to the willful princess who was all too happy to drag him about this miserable hellscape, this was his "punishment" for the "crime" of hiding things from her.

At this rate, he was starting to wonder if he had to get on his knees whenever she passed by, and refer to her as "your majesty" by the end of the year.

By this point, the young man was beginning to think if there were any point in resisting at all.

' _As much as it pains me to admit it, probably not.'_ he lamented.

The snickering of the spectators and their (not so subtle) whispers of _'whipped'_ was not helping his mood either.

' _What would Kuzan think if he saw me like this?'_ His mood did not improve in the slightest.

With one last sigh of acceptance, he forged on.

' _At least someone's having fun.'_ One would think she was the one who crossed the worlds to get here judging from the way she was gushing over every little thing in the mall.

' _It's amazing how much a sunglasses, a change in hair and wardrobe can do'_ he mused as none of the onlookers paid heed to the red haired bulldozer that was currently pulling on his arms.

' _Also,'_ He glanced down at his arm that she was dragging him with. _'Isn't she holding on a bit too tight? It's kind of hard to walk like this.'_ He felt his Aura slightly straining at the pressure. While it wasn't enough to hurt him, it was enough for his Aura to recognize it as "damage".

Just as he was about to ask her to let him go, he was once again yanked towards some shop that he couldn't have cared less about. His protest died in his throat once he glanced at her face however.

There was so much excitement and happiness in her eyes that it was enough to give him pause. For the majority of his life, positive emotions such as joy and delight was a somewhat of a foreign concept to him. He knew of it in mind, but he never knew of it in heart. Being orphaned at young age, and recruited into Cipher Pol soon after, his life wasn't what one would call it, "rainbows and sunshines". Despair and anger (his targets) he was intimate with, pride and greed (his superiors) he was well acquainted with, but happiness? Perhaps the closest thing to him was amusement he felt towards certain individuals.

So when the ex-assassin saw the little champion display her happiness with such intensity, he couldn't deny that it was a novel experience for him. It was strange, it was unfamiliar, and it was foreign, yet a small part of him thought the look suited her.

A miniscule, resigned smile made its way to his face. He supposed it wasn't all that bad.

His good moods were slightly dampened when he bumped into someone.

"Watch it human!" Came the gruff voice.

"My apologies." He did raise an eyebrow at the overly hostile faunus, but apologized nonetheless.

"Tsk, useless." the faunus muttered as he stormed off.

The comment did little to phase the young man, and he calmly profiled the rather aggressive male out of habit.

' ** _Species_** _: Faunus - Type: Goat (judging from his horns)._ ** _Sex_** _: Male._ ** _Hair color_** _: Brown._ ** _Eye color_** _: Brown._ ** _Age_** _: Mid to late 20s._ ** _Height_** _: approximately 6'3'' with a body built for power._ ** _Aura_** _: Awakened._ ** _Threat level_** _: Min-'_ he was cut off from his thoughts when he felt an increasing pressure on his arm.

He looked to the source, and sure enough, it was the champion, but her attention was elsewhere. Judging from how narrow her eyes were, and the slight frown on her face, the comment had apparently bothered her.

He sighed quietly, he knew he was going to regret this.

"My, what pretty clothes they are!" He said in a complete monotone as he motioned to some random shop.

It was enough to break her out of her trance, and it didn't take long for her excitement to return.

' _I need a nap.'_ He inwardly groaned.

* * *

Pyrrha couldn't remember the last time she had this much fun.

She was never one to enjoy shopping all that much, but simply having someone with her made a world of a difference. She wondered if this was why so many enjoyed shopping in groups.

"Let's go check out that store next!" She beamed as she pulled the young man next to her.

Few days have passed since she's learned that Yury was not an ordinary civilian as she was first led to believe he was.

A part of her was happy to learn that she and Yury had more in common than she had originally thought.

It made her feel closer to him.

Yet another part of her was slightly miffed that he never told her, yet admitted to her mother after only an hour of talk, whereas he's known herself for months.

Whenever she thought of that, inexplicable feelings would settle within her. It was a strange, and foreign feeling, and for the life of her she couldn't put her finger on it and figure out what it was. But one thing was certain.

It was deeply unpleasant.

Her musings were cut off when she heard the sound of snickering coming from around them. Curious, she looked around and was greeted with various bystanders giving them not-so-subtle amused grins.

But that wasn't what caught her attention.

Among them, were few girls.

They were giving Yury strange looks. Looks that did not sit well with little Nikos. The feeling returned, along with an urge to get him away from them.

And she swiftly did so.

The feeling gradually subsided as she led him away by his arm, and eventually disappeared soon after she deemed they were sufficiently far away.

Inexplicable sense of relief washed over her, and along with it, something else.

Something pleasant.

The young champion was slightly puzzled at this point. The sensation was somewhat familiar yet foreign at the same time.

She looked down, and saw her arms linking his as she held tightly on.

The puzzling yet pleasant feeling intensified. She remembered that she used to hold on to her dad similarly like this when she was a little girl, and the champion wondered if that was why it felt so familiar.

' _But why does it feel so different at the same time?'_ she pondered.

' _In any case,'_ the champion in hiding did not seem to realize that she was tightening her hold on the young man. _'I could get used to this.'_

Just as he finished her thoughts, a certain shop caught her eyes.

A clothing store for males to be more specific.

She casted a quick sidelong glance at Yury. He had his usual theme of formal clothing. Today, he was wearing black dress pants and shoes, dark grey dress shirts with black tie and vest. (AN: Basically, young Walter's getup from Hellsing).

She had to admit, he pulled it off remarkably well. A bit too well for her likings, but she digressed. And when she saw the shop, she couldn't help but grow curious at how he would look in other clothes.

Without further ado, she quickly led him to the shop.

When she was just about to get there, the young Nikos felt Yury slightly stumble.

Apparently he had bumped into someone.

Since she was the one leading him around, she felt responsible for the mishap. But when she was just about to apologize in place of Yury, a gruff voice interrupted her.

"Watch it human!"

Her thoughts about apologizing couldn't have disappeared faster. She very subtly shifted into a defensive stance in case things got violent.

The young champion knew Yury would be able to handle himself, but she never saw him in actual combat yet, and it never hurt to be cautious. There was also the fact that the thought of him getting hurt slightly frightened her.

"My apologies." She heard Yury say even though it was technically her fault.

"Tsk, useless." The man muttered.

Her temper started to flare as she silently seethed in anger. A brief thought of burying him alive crossed her mind.

That caused the young champion to blink.

A slight frown marred her face. She was never one to lose her temper so quickly, nor was she the type to have thoughts like that.

So what caused her to lose control as such?

The young champion's thoughts were interrupted when Yury's voice reached her ears.

"My, what pretty clothes they are!"

When she looked at where he was gesturing, her previous rage turned into excitement and delight.

He was gesturing towards the same shop she was trying to take him to all along.

The thought of Yury sharing the same sentiment as herself delighted the champion till no end.

With nothing else hindering them, she eagerly entered the shop while tightly holding on to the young man beside her.

* * *

By end of it all, Yury wanted nothing more than to simply go home and sleep. After playing dress up for god knows how long, the young man was just about ready to sell his soul to any higher powers if it mean getting away from this hellish nightmare.

But alas, it was not meant to be.

 _'What wouldn't I give to have a week of peace?'_ the young man groaned as he looked around.

"Come on, move along humans!"

Just as he and young Nikos was about to _finally_ leave in order to grab a bite, the mall was stormed by bands of heavily armed faunus.

The White Fang.

As soon as they poured in, the terrorist group quickly closed all the entrance and exit points, took control of communications room, and rounded everyone up in the mall as hostage.

Yury and the young champion were among those hostages.

' _Damn it! They couldn't have charge the bloody place after I got home!?'_ he inwardly cried out.

Yury was _not_ amused.

At all.

In fact, he had half a mind to scream "To hell with it all!" to his dreams of peaceful retirement and blow the place up 'till kingdom come.

If it wasn't for the fact that certain redhead was right here next to him, that is.

As much as the little brat annoyed him at times, he would be lying if he said he didn't care for her. And going through his initial thoughts of obliterating the White Fang and the mall along with it, it would undoubtedly cause her to develop some form of trauma from the resulting carnage.

Sure, she is what most would consider an above average warrior, but to him, who once was a part of his world's greatest assassination unit, she was still a novice. He doubted she even had her first kill, and was not ready to witness such a bloodbath yet.

Also, it would be he who would have to explain to her mother why her daughter was jumping at every shadow, and struggle to sleep at night.

That would be something he was going to do his absolute best to prevent from ever coming to pass.

No, he needed to be subtle here.

' _I suppose I'll have to use "that" then,'_ he mused. _'Oh well, I suppose this is as good as chance as any, and the kid's been bugging me about it anyway.'_

"Princess." he whispered.

The champion in disguise turned her eyes on him, and when he was sure no one was listening in, he continued. "The fastest way to put an end to this mess and go home is by removing their leader and working your way down from there."

Pyrrha nodded, seeing the logic. "So what do we do?" she asked.

Yury simply gave her an amused grin. " _We_ are going to do nothing, since _I_ will be doing all the leg work, and _you_ will be staying here."

Just before she was about to vehemently reject the idea, the young man interrupted, "Aren't you curious about what I can do?"

That gave her a pause.

She would be lying if she said she didn't. In fact, she was _very_ curious what the enigma next to her could do. But this wasn't exactly the time nor the place to indulge in her curiosity. That would be too selfish. Yet she _really_ wanted to know what he was capable of howev-

Her internal dilemma was cut off when the young man reassured the young girl. "I guarantee you I can finish this quietly, and discreetly. We would be out of here before you know it." He finished with his signature lazy grin.

"Plus," he added. "I need someone here to keep watch here on those guards watching the civilians."

' _That… makes sense actually'_ the young champion finally relented.

But just as the young man was about to do something, she reached out and firmly grabbed his head with both of her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes.

"But you _will_ be careful, and you _will_ come back to me safe and sound. Am I understood?" She asked (more like ordered) as her eyes promised fate worse than death should he fail to comply.

The young man couldn't help but blink in surprise at her forwardness, but the said surprise was soon gone and was replaced with amusement.

"Your wish is my command," he smoothly replied as he reached and gently grabbed her hand. "My lady." He finished as he tenderly kissed the back of her hand.

When he looked back up, the young Nikos looked like she was moments away from fainting.

The young man chuckled as he activated his semblance.

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos was confused.

When Yury looked up after his kiss (she still blushed at remembering it), she was slightly startled at seeing his steel grey eyes emitting a soft, barely noticeable glow.

But that wasn't what confused her.

As soon as she looked at him, her mind told her that the man in front of her was someone utterly inconsequential, and there was no need to pay attention to whatever he was doing.

She knew in her heart that was not the case, but her mind was so convinced that he was just a simple insignificant nobody, she struggled to even keep an eye on him.

Pyrrha was afraid to even blink. She felt simple action like that would be enough to break her concentration, and lose track of him.

The young champion was further astonished when he simply stood up, and walked towards one of the guards as if he was just enjoying a stroll through a park.

Neither the guards, nor her fellow hostages even acknowledged him.

' _Invisibility?'_ she wondered.

But her theory was soon shot down when she noticed that the hostages still failed to react even after being lightly pushed and shoved by Yury as he made his way to the guards.

When he finally made it to them, she almost shouted in surprise when he started talking to them as if he was asking them about the weather.

To her further astonishment, they talked back while pointing to a certain direction.

The young champion doubted even the softest criminals would be kind enough to let one of their hostages just up and leave like that, not to mention give them directions.

So that begs the question,

' _Just what did he do?'_ she wondered.

She quickly shook her head to shake herself off of the shock. She had her own job to do.

' _He better be careful, or else…'_ The young champion steeled herself, as she silently stood guard in case any of the terrorists decided to do something rash.

* * *

' _Amateurs.'_ The ex-CP9 agent thought as he passed another set of "patrol". A patrol consisting of a single man. He couldn't help but shake his head.

The spacing between their patrols were inefficient, they had no contingency plan should they encounter resistance, and they had no way of calling for backup since each "patrol" (he started to wonder if it could even be called that) only consisted of a single person.

He was beginning to wonder if it was even worth the trouble of using his semblance.

' _But I digress.'_ the young man thought as he made his way to where the supposed leader of this operation was currently located.

The communications room, probably arguing with the police or other authorities with his demands or what not.

How did he know? Well, all he had to do was say "Please."

The young man lightly chuckled as he continued to make his way to the comms room.

When he got there, he was greeted with two grunts guarding the door. They both noticed the young owner approach, but neither made any move to stop him.

"Hello, gentleman." He greeted. "Would you kindly tell me the passcode for the door? For the life of me, I cannot seem to recall."

"But boss said no one was to enter without his say so." One of the guards gruffly replied. The guard was about to say more, but his fellow guard interrupted him.

"Hey, what's the harm? He's just a nobody." The other guard said as he pointed at the young shopkeeper, who simply stood there, smiling. "Who cares if we tell him? It's not like what he does with it is going to matter to anyone."

"I suppose…" The guard mused. "The code is 21805463." He said after taking out his scroll to check the codes.

After Yury punched in the code, the young man heard the soft 'click' that signaled the disengaging of the locks.

"Thank you, enjoy your day gentlemen." He said as he made his way in, ignoring their grunts of acknowledgement.

When he made it inside, what greeted him made him shake his head and chuckle in amusement at the irony.

He saw a rather familiar set of goat horns jutting out behind a slightly more stylized White Fang mask.

"Small world eh?" he lightly commented.

"What the?" The apparent leader of this operation, who up until this point made no signs of even noticing the young shopkeeper, swirled around to face him. "Who are you?" he asked in a tone without any weariness, but with genuine curiosity.

"A dream, a figment of your imagination that you will soon forget." the young man replied with a tone tinged with amusement. "Someone inconsequential."

The goat faunus seemed to accept his answer as he simply shrugged, and turned to look at the security feeds.

"Say," the young man drawled. "What's the password to your scroll?"

The faunus turned his attention back to him, and Yury imagined he had a brow raised behind his mask. "Why do you want to know?" he asked.

With an air of indifference, Yury simply shrugged. "What's the harm? I'm just a part of your imagination. I will soon cease to exist anyway."

Seeing no harm in doing so, the goat faunus told him.

' ** _Shigan'_**

Yury lazily bent down, and fished out the faunus' scroll as the said faunus laid on the floor, slowly bleeding out.

After gaining access to the channel where all the White Fang members currently participating were a part of, Yury sent his message to all of them.

' _All units report to comms room immediately.'_

* * *

When the White Fang guards suddenly pulled out and left, the hostages were understandably confused, Pyrrha included. Some claimed now was the chance to escape, while others claimed it was a trap. Few even claimed that they were pulling out because they were ready to blow this place up.

Yet despite all the hushed arguing, no one made an attempt to move.

' _Was that Yury?'_ the young champion wondered.

It has only been approximately 6-7 minutes since his departure, and the young Nikos doubted even he could do things this efficiently.

But her doubts were soon blown away when cops and few huntsman started to pour in only after about five minutes since the White Fang guard's departure.

Among them, were an army of paramedics.

' _Strange.'_ she thought.

She was brought out of her thoughts when one of the officers grabbed her in order to usher her out like her fellow hostages.

"Wait! I have to wait for someone!" she tried to protest, "I'm sure whoever you are looking for is also being escorted out." but he would have none of it.

Once she was out, she was greeted with many relieved faces, some crying, and some, like her, frantically looking around.

Her slightly panic ridden thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice whispered into her ear.

"Looking for someone, princess?" came the amused voice.

Sure enough, when the young champion in disguise whirled around, she saw Yury lazily standing behind her with his lopsided grin that she's come to both love and hate.

Her body moved on her own, and embraced him tightly as soon as she was close enough.

After what felt like an hour, the young champion looked up.

It wasn't a nice look.

It was a look that demanded answers.

Getting the message, the young man let out a resigned sigh, and simply said, "After we grab something to eat. I'm starving."

"Fine, but you better tell me everything!" The young girl finished with a glare.

For the young shopkeeper, he couldn't help but think that it was rather cute of her to try and intimidate him.

With eyes filled with mischief, he lightly grabbed her hand, and pulled her close. When she was close enough, Yury leaned forward, and whispered softly into her ear.

"Of course, my lady." He finished as he lightly bit her ear.

It was funny how much she jumped.

"Stop doing that!" came the indignant voice filled with embarrassment and frustration.

"Do what?" came the amused reply.

"You know what I'm talking about!"

Yury couldn't help but laugh at that.

It was just so fun to tease her, he simply couldn't help it when she was being cheeky or when the opportunity presented itself.

After all, for all she's made him go through, he deserved to have some fun himself.

* * *

 _-Somewhere in Vale-_

A figure could be seen in a luxurious office, latest breaking news featuring the failed White Fang terrorist attack on one of the biggest malls in Mistral being played on one of his monitors.

But that wasn't what had his attention.

It was the investigation report from the incident that had his attention.

The contents, and its implications both intrigued and concerned him.

' _How curious'_ he thought as he read on.

* * *

 _-Somewhere in Atlas-_

"Sir, you might want to take a look at this." A figured that looked like an officer of the military said as she handed a file to her superior.

He raised his brow, but accepted the file nonetheless.

As he read on, his initial curiosity morphed into mild intrigue and apprehension.

" _-When the paramedics initially arrived at the communications room, the captain told me that many simply vomited on the spot. The stench of blood was so strong, that it was difficult to simply breathe even with a mask on. After looking at the picture, I'm not surprised. The room was a bloodbath._

 _Despite its gruesome scene however, none of the terrorists have been killed, much to the surprise of both the captain and the paramedics. He also told me of the strange message he's received from the said comms room as well. The message simply read: 'Targets neutralized, recommend bringing ample number of paramedics however.'_

 _The real mystery started when the doctors examined the wounds while treating them. What initially thought as bullet wounds were not bullet wounds at all. How could that be when no bullets were found in any of these said 'Bullet wounds'? The depth, and diameter of these wounds were also consistent throughout all the terrorists, indicating that same tool has been used to incapacitate them. It implies it was either done by a single person, or a group using the same tools. Personally, I'm leaning more towards the former._

 _Here's where it gets really interesting. These seemingly random wounds were not in fact random upon closer inspection. All of them have been placed with such surgical precision, that they were all placed close enough to the major arteries to cause significant bleed out, but far enough to prevent any of them to go into shock. Whoever did this intentionally grazed those arteries, causing the terrorists to bleed out quickly enough to incapacitate, but not enough to risk ending their lives. What's even more remarkable is that the size of the incisions on the arteries also seemed to be calibrated according to the person's body type and size, in that, had the paramedics left them as they were, all of them would have bled out and died at the exact same moment. All 50 of them._

 _When the investigators questioned the few who have recovered enough, many were confused as to how they were in a hospital, handcuffed to their respective beds. For most of them, the last thing they seemed to remember was getting a message from their group leader and making their way to the communications room as per his order. After that, it was blank. There were no exceptions._

 _When my officers interrogated the leader in question, he had no recollection of sending out such message, and seemed to have blacked out long before it was event sent._

 _None of the hostages reported seeing any suspicious activities from anyone outside the members of the White Fang. And also-"_

The figure sighed as he massaged his temple. _'An unknown, great, just what I needed.'_ He thought sarcastically.

"Orders sir?" The officer asked sensing the opportunity.

"Send out feelers for any possible signs of the one who could be responsible. I want to know rumors, gossips, any and all information regarding this individual. All findings must be reported to me before any actions can be taken. Am I clear?" the figure ordered.

"Yes sir."

"Good. You are dismissed."

The officer saluted as she briskly walked out.

When the figure was once again, he glanced down at the end of the report.

" _-It is my theory that a huntsman, or someone with a huntsman training with a stealth based semblance was the one responsible for this. The single lead we have is the video tape from one of the security camera that caught a figure who can potentially be the one responsible. Unfortunately, the footage was so blurry, and low quality, it was impossible to discern any recognizable features. The only thing that we were able to discern was that he is a male. Since no identity could be ascertained as of moment, he has been given the codename of Specter. A fitting name in my opinion._

 _-Chief of Mistral Justice Department-"_


	5. Chapter 5 - Bonding

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 5 - Bonding

* * *

 _-In a land far far away…-_

 _Within a dark and damp castle, laid an ancient laboratory. Old rusted medical tools were cluttered everywhere, the air was stale and lifeless, and its overall scene was enough to evoke a sense of despair and madness within oneself. In this desolate place, within the deepest part of the lab, a figure could be seen slumped over a table frantically working on something._

" _Yes… with this, I can finally be recognized as the genius I am." His gravelly voice was tinged with madness and insanity._

" _Kukukukuku… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" A lightning flashed behind the figure giving him an even more unstable and psychotic look._

" _Yes! Rise, rise my beauty! RISE!" The figure's insane rambling was starting to reach critical levels._

 _As if roused by the madman's words, his creation started to rise._

" _...who are you?" it asked._

" _I, my boy, I am your father!" the madman declared._

" _...Father?" it questioned._

" _Yes! And as your father, I shall name you Yury Llo-_

"Stop." A rather frustrated voice interrupted.

"Hm? You don't like my origin story?" Contrarily, this voice was filled with mischievous glee.

Soon after they finished their meal, the young man was quickly dragged to his cafe for "talk" by the rather eager Nikos.

Apparently, the little princess did not enjoy his story as evidenced by her twitching brows and… was it him or were those silverwares slightly shaking?

Shame. He put a lot of effort in coming up with one too.

"Well, since you are not interested in the 'Birth of Yury Lloyd Mk1'," Yury drawled as he leaned back from his seat, while taking a sip of his tea from the table. "What would you like to know?"

The champion sighed. It looks like she would have to start nice and slow.

"Are you a Huntsman?" she asked.

The young man couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Being the former member of the top secret assassination unit, his knowledge of deception and misdirection was so extensive, that he could have probably written a book about it. And one thing he knew about lying was that the best lies always contains a shard of truth. And his experience told him that making up a complete lie in current situation (where the one he is lying to is not likely to go away anytime soon) will most likely come back to bite him on the ass later should any inconsistencies arise. As such, he would have to craft a Remnant's version of his life with as much resemblance to truth as possible, while making it non-confirmable yet believable at the same time.

No pressure.

"No." came the dull reply. "At least, not the kind you are thinking of."

The young champion raised her delicate brow, urging him on to continue.

"Well first of all, I did not graduate from any of the huntsmen academy in the kingdoms." The young man explained. "And second of all, I was the kind that mainly focused on different kinds of monsters."

"Different kinds of monsters?" The young Nikos repeated.

He shrugged indifferently, yet his eyes remained sharp, observing her every move. "Monsters wearing human skin." He simply said.

Pyrrha's brows scrunched up, wondering what that meant. And when it dawned on her, the young champion's eyes slightly widened in comprehension.

"So… When you said that you were part of the 'council cleaning staff' you mean…"

"That I was once a part of a council sanctioned assassination unit." He finished for her.

The young champion stayed quiet for some time, and Yury felt strangely nervous during the silence. Should the little brat stop associating with him because of it, it would mean he would be getting his peaceful retirement back. He would finally be free of her meddling in the morning, free of her interrupting his naps, and free of her making him work in his cafe when he wants to skip work.

It would be a good thing.

Then why was he feeling slightly apprehensive?

"Okay." The young champion suddenly said.

"Pardon?" Yury couldn't help but blink in surprise.

"I mean, at least I don't see anything wrong with it. 'Normal' Huntsmen may be specialized in dealing with Grimm, but they do occasionally deal with criminals as well. From what you are telling me, you are the exact opposite of these 'normal' Huntsmen, as you've mainly dealt with criminals. Right?" She sounded oddly proud of making that analogy.

"You are being awfully pragmatic about this." he noted with a raised brow. "Most don't handle facts like this as smoothly."

It was the young champion's turn to shrug indifferently. "While I don't necessarily agree with the method, I am aware that there are some people that can be just as, if not more, destructive than any Grimm can be. Besides…" A faintest of blush was coloring her cheeks. "You accepted me as Pyrrha Nikos, not the 'Champion of Mistral'. So the least I can do is to return the favor and accept you as Yury Lloyd, not the 'Assassin from Vacuo'." The young Nikos finished as she gave the young man a shy smile.

The young man in question was looking slightly down, his bangs covering his eyes.

He was slightly shaking as well.

Just as the young Nikos was about to ask if he was alright, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he burst into a fit of laughter, ignoring the indignant, _"Hey!"_ and the red-faced champion.

When the young man finally got his laughter under control, he simply said, "You are a weird one." which earned him a ballistic fork to the face (that he easily dodged).

"So…" the young champion drawled as she quickly calmed her tempers. "What did you do to the White Fangs? Did you…?"

"If the paramedics had even the vaguest idea of how to treat a blood loss, then they should still be alive and kicking, if that's what you are asking." He answered with an air of indifference as he lazily shrugged.

"I also used my semblance, so they have no way of tracking things back to me as well. And besides, I'm retired."

That made her perk up slightly.

"That reminds me, what exactly is your semblance? It was really strange when you activated it." The young girl eagerly asked.

Yury simply gave her his signature lopsided grin as his eyes shone with mischief. Sensing an opportunity, he nonchalantly said, "If you show me yours, I'll show you mine." His grin slightly widened at the end.

The young champion smiled, "That sounds fair."

His grin slightly fell. It appears that she didn't get the joke, that's no fun.

His sulkings were cut off when his spoon and fork, along with various other silverwares started to float in the air. "My semblance is polarity. I can control metal." She explained.

After watching his silverwares float around him for a moment, he gave her an amused grin as he casually said, "Remind me to replace all my tools with wooden ones."

One of the floating spoons whacked him on the head. Hard.

After she put all the silverwares back, she turned her gaze back to him, silently telling him that it was his turn.

As promised, he told her.

"I don't have an exact name for my semblance, but I like to call it the 'anonymous'" he explained.

"Basically, it makes me seem about as interesting as a pebble on the side of a road to the others. I become so utterly uninteresting, so unimportant to them, they will not react to anything that I do while it is active. Others are also more likely to tell me anything I ask of them since, like I said, I become an insignificant nobody to their eyes and to them, it is like talking to a wall, except that the wall is talking back."

The young man broke out in a slight grin "And the best part is, they won't remember anything after I leave their line of sight. Not even after I attack them."

His grin was soon replaced with a slight pout. "It's really too bad I can't directly tell them what to do."

"Why?" The young Nikos, who up until this point was listening with rapt attention, asked with her head slightly cocked to the side.

The young man simply raised his brows. "Do you usually take orders from pebbles and walls?"

She laughed sheepishly, before she realized something. "Wait," a slight frown marred her face. "How come I remember you activating and using your semblance even after you left my line of sight?" she asked.

That made the young man pause for a moment. He had a thoughtful look on his face, before he shrugged lazily. "To be honest, I don't know. Perhaps if you concentrate enough, you can resist it to a certain degree. Or you knowing me personally, and knowing that I am doing something to your senses hinders my ability slightly."

He broke out in a devilish smile. "Or maybe it's because I hold a special place in your heart, and it refused to let my semblance tell you otherwise?" he teased.

It was always so fun to tease her and make her face lit up like that.

In the midst of her embarrassment, it appeared that another realization had dawned on the little champion.

"What about your speed?" she inquired. "You wouldn't have described it as a 'technique' back when you showed it to me if it was just a simple speed. The fact you used the word 'speed technique' implies that it wasn't you simply moving fast from aura enhancing your body."

"Besides," she added. "Your movement back then was WAY faster than what most are capable of even with aura enhancing their bodies. Not without having an speed based semblance at least." She finished as her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

Outwardly, Yury had the very picture of bored, if not slightly amused expression. Inwardly, he was sweating. He couldn't figure out how to explain his techniques, the **Rokushiki** , without raising too many questions.

' _What should I say… I have to make it consistent with my story, but also make it so that no one can confirm them… bu-'_

Then, an inspiration struck him like a **Rokuougan** to the face.

"I am a practitioner of an ancient, forgotten martial arts school that roughly translates to 'six styles'. The speed technique being one of those styles."

The young Nikos' brows scrunched up, trying to recall if she's heard of any martial arts style fitting the name. Having found none, she finally asked, "How ancient?"

"Long before Auras and Dusts." came the lazy reply.

"What!?" The little champion looked like her eyes were about to fall out of her sockets.

The young man simply shrugged indifferently. "The techniques were originally developed to combat Grimm and other monsters before the advent of Dusts and Auras."

The young man continued. "Masters of the art are capable of feats that seems otherwise impossible to perform without unlocking one's aura, the speed I showed you being one of them."

"If it's so ancient and forgotten, how did you learn it?" Pyrrha asked with a tone of disbelief.

"I was an orphan raised outside of the kingdom walls for the most part of my early childhood." He simply shrugged, as he continued vaguely. "It's amazing just what kind of people you might meet out there."

The young champion sighed. She knew from experience that it was extremely difficult to fish out clear answers from the young man when he was in one of those "moods".

So she simply changed the subject.

"What else can you do?"

"Now, now," he replied with a while waving his finger back and forth. "I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."

Before the young Nikos could protest, the cafe owner beat her to it. "I'll show you next time," he said as he gestured out the window, and the dark skies. "It's getting late, you should probably go back for now."

His eyes gained an amused glint.

"Unless you want to spend the night with me?" he finished with a teasing grin.

It was always so soothing to tease her, and see her turn as red as her hair like that.

"Y-you better show me soon, or else!" She threatened, but her stuttering coupled with her red face reduced her intimidation factor significantly.

"Yea yea yea, go home already brat." The young man drawled as he made a shooing motion.

The way she 'humphed' and stormed out of his cafe was entertaining enough to make him chuckle in mirth, before he let out a tired sigh.

He really hoped he could spend the next few weeks in peace.

* * *

"You know…" A figure droned in a blank voice as he slowly looked around, before regarding the figure before him. "When I said next time, I didn't mean the next day."

All he got in return was a cheeky grin.

They were in a empty arena. A very big, empty arena.

According to the kid, it was apparently for hosting private matches between huntsmen for either duels, practice, or just to have fun.

Yury wondered how the hell did the brat managed to reserve a spot, but on the other hand, he didn't want to know.

Probably had to do with it currently being 5 in the morning, as no sane people would reserve it this early.

"Well, you never specifically said when, so I had no choice but to assume." Her smug grin did not go away.

She probably did this on purpose just to annoy him.

Cheeky brat.

With a sigh of acceptance, he looked at the girl before him.

Pyrrha Nikos, clad in her signature battle suit, looked back at him with excitement evident in her eyes.

"I have a good idea what this is about, but I'll ask you anyways, just in case." He prayed for the one in the billionth of a chance of him being wrong, and that she just called him here for a nice cup of tea.

"Why are we here?"

Her grin slightly widened. "Oh Yury, you should know yourself. You promised me after all."

"A nice cup of tea?" The young man hoped.

All he got in response was a bronze shield rocketing towards his head.

He sighed, as he deftly dodged.

"So no tea then." He muttered to no one in particular, before cracking his neck in preparation for the little exercise he was about to go through.

He broke out in a small nostalgic yet predatory grin.

It has been a while since he played around with recruits after all.

* * *

Pyrrha was starting to feel what felt like a beginning of irritation bubbling within her.

As soon as Yury dodged her shield, she charged in with her sword prepared to slash at him at his blindspot. In her humble opinion, it was executed flawlessly. Any of her previous opponents would have at the very least taken a grazing from that slash.

It quickly became apparent that the young man was nothing like any of her previous opponents.

As soon as the young Nikos recovered her shield, she launched a ferocious close-quarter attack. If there were others watching the match, they would have been in awe of her swordplay. Her sword was nothing more than a blur.

It did little to phase Yury however, as the young man gracefully ducked and weaved between the slashes by a hair's breadth. The slightly amused grin plastered on his face was not helping her case either.

The young Nikos wondered if this was how it felt for others to fight against her.

Yet as much as it frustrated her, she couldn't help but admire his movements. He flowed between her attacks like water flowing between rocks. Her every slashes were dodged with the barest of movement, as he hardly moved from his spot since the beginning of the match. And even after weaving through her relentless assault, his breath was calm and even.

"Say…" A voice suddenly interrupted her silent admiration (and frustration). "What happens if the arena gets damaged?" He said in a tone as if he was asking her about the weather.

"The staff will take care of it." The young champion curtly replied without slowing her attacks.

Her only reply was a dull, "I see." before he disappeared in a burst of speed just like last time.

Like last time, he was too quick for her eyes to track. But unlike last time, she was ready as her senses were on full alert.

Not a moment later, her battle-honed instincts screamed of a danger incoming from 8 o'clock position.

She quickly rolled to safety. And as she did, she felt a slight shift in the air behind her.

When the young Nikos recovered enough to allow her a moment of spite, the aftermath of the young man's first attack since the match left her slightly stumped. Even though she knew she was in the middle of a spar, she couldn't help but gawk at the sight.

There was a _huge_ gash scarring the arena floor just where she stood before.

Pyrrha knew now wasn't the time, but she had to ask, "What. Was. That?"

Instead of answering her, her opponent simply gave her a challenging grin before disappearing once again.

This time appearing mere three feet away from her.

Had it been anyone else, they would have panicked, stumbled, and struggled to react quickly enough. But she wasn't the two times champion for nothing, as she quickly raised her shield in order to block his fist rocketing towards her.

When the hit connected, she was shocked.

The punch was heavy, almost inhumanely so.

It was enough to push her back a good distance away.

The young champion was beginning to wonder if having his skills tested on her was such a good idea. Hind sight was twenty-twenty after all. It would have been much smarter of her to simply take him outside of the kingdom and have him demonstrate against Grimm.

Her musings were once again cut off early when the powerhouse before her launched a vicious kick to her midsection, sending her flying further away.

She quickly recovered however, and met the young man in the middle of the arena after releasing her own bursts of speed.

Once the two met, she once again launched her most unforgiving assaults towards the young man. But unlike last time, he was fighting back.

The two combatants were locked in an elegant, yet merciless dance of combat, where neither refused to back down even a single step.

It was unfortunate that she wasn't able to land a single hit on him while he was able to land several on her.

But despite everything, the young Nikos couldn't help but smile.

It has been too long since she was pushed like this.

It has been too long since she had a challenge.

It has been too long since she had this much fun.

Her smile turned slightly feral.

In that instant, Pyrrha decided to worry about evaluating his skills later and to simply enjoy the moment.

* * *

The previously pristine arena was marred with scars and gashes throughout its floors. Charr marks as well as traces of frost littered the battlefield.

The place looked like a warzone.

And within the deepest part of the devastated arena, laid two figures.

The former of the two, asides from a slightly ruffled clothing, was looking as fresh as a daisy as he sat next to a sprawled out redhead beside him.

The latter of the two however, wasn't so lucky. The young girl had a disheveled red hair, minor scratches littered various parts of her body, and had the general look of exhaustion as she limply lied next to the young man.

"You never told me you could fly." The young girl accused without any heat.

"You never asked." came the lazy reply, which she retaliated by sloppily slapping his arm.

A look of satisfaction adored her face

The young girl couldn't remember the last time since she was pushed like she has been in the last few hours.

She hasn't felt this refreshed in years.

As she laid recovering, her thoughts wandered to the young man next to her, who was now also laying down beside her, appearing to be taking a nap.

She broke out in a warm smile as she regarded the young man next to her. Ever Since she accidently wandered into his cafe, her life has changed so much that it was almost unrecognizable.

She found herself no longer caring what others thought of her as long as he was there for her. She found herself smiling and laughing much more often, as every moment spent with him was like rediscovering her previously forgotten emotions. She found herself treasuring every moment she spent with him, as it gave her peace in her heart like never before.

As lazy, irritating, and frustrating as he was, she couldn't imagine a life without him.

The young girl wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, and despite knowing how selfish it was of her to ask something like this of him, she simply couldn't help herself.

She didn't have much time left in Mistral after all.

With her mind made up, she called him.

When she had his attention, she steeled her nerves and simply asked,

"Can you teach me?"

The young man before her simply blinked owlishly, and she couldn't help but think that he looked adorable.

"Hah?" was his eloquent reply.

* * *

 _\- Two Years Later-_

Yury refused to admit that he missed the brat now that she was off to Beacon.

He sighed as he took another sip of his drink while looking over the Mistralian nightview from his studio balcony.

It was something that caught the young owner off guard.

Apparently, the kid had filed her application to Beacon as her early decision Huntsmen Academy of choice, few months prior to their initial meeting. And she had been accepted, meaning that she had no choice but to attend.

When he first heard the news, it was a really strange experience for him. On one hand, he was slightly thrilled about the whole thing. He would finally be free of the annoying meddlings of the princess, and enjoy the peaceful life that he had sought after so much. But on the other hand, he was… unhappy? Annoyed? He couldn't really describe the feeling but it wasn't a good one.

Now that she was actually gone, he was inexplicably feeling moody nowadays and it's only been a few days since her departure.

The ex-CP9 member wondered since when did he became so attached to people.

As he took another sip, his thoughts wandered back to the source of his slightly dour mood.

The red haired princess, as he so often called her.

" _Hah?" he needed a moment to process what he has just heard. "Come again?"_

" _Can you teach me?" she asked again, as serious as ever._

" _No." was his curt reply._

And for Yury, that marked the beginning of his three months long nightmare.

If he thought the kid was stubborn before, a new word was needed to describe her level of persistence after the three months long torture he's been through.

The brat became his shadow, asking over, and over, and over, and over again.

And over again.

From dawn till dusk.

Now that he thought back, that was probably a feat in and of itself.

' _FINE!' the young man half screamed and half groaned._

" _Really?" She looked as though she had been gifted the world._

" _Yes…" his reply was more like a lifeless sigh. "Just let me have a week of peace."_

At least she had the decency to look sheepish.

When the aforementioned week-long vacation ended for the young man, he flat out told her that he wouldn't be teaching her the "Six Style".

To his surprise, she was rather quick to accept when she heard the reason. But he did raise his brow in mild confusion at her rather quick acceptance, considering how vehemently she asked of him to teach her.

" _You already have your own style, and learning a new one is more likely to do you harm than good."_

But if he was being perfectly honest, he was feeling too lazy to invest years of his time teaching the kid. Rokushiki wasn't something that could be mastered in a few years after all.

When she asked what she was going to be learning from him, he answered her question with a question of his own.

" _Have you ever heard of haki?"_

Of course, she did not. No surprise there.

His simplified explanation to her was that haki is a manifestation of one's will as aura is a manifestation of one's soul.

The young man inwardly had to give himself a pat on his back for coming up with such a brilliant way of explaining it. And the look on her face after his explanation told him that it was indeed brilliant, but for different reason.

She probably wondered why nobody ever thought of that before.

By all means, there was a chance that people from this world wouldn't be able to harness its power, and that all her training would have been for naught. But he was able to unlock aura all on his own, so the chances weren't all that low. And besides, at this point Yury was feeling a bit vindictive, and was more than willing to make her his guinea pig.

He figured **Armament Haki** would be the easiest to learn for her (since it was rather similar to Aura), so he started with that.

To his mild surprise, the whole process had been considerably challenging for the young Nikos. It took her a little over a half a year to finally unlock her **Armament Haki** , and almost double that time to refine it up to a point where it was usable in battle. He thought about warning her to keep the whole 'haki' stuff secret, but considering her personality, and how secretive she was with her semblance, he figured it wouldn't be anytime soon before she was openly using it.

Recalling her look of excitement and accomplishment when she finally got it was enough to make the young man chuckle in nostalgia. She looked even happier than when she was crowned the fourth Mistral Regional Tournament Champion, now that he thought about it. Then again, she wasn't the type to care about those stuff.

To his relief (and mild disappointment?) she didn't have enough time to train her **Observation Haki** as the whole fiasco with Beacon was revealed.

Now that she was gone, his little shadow, he found himself surprisingly… empty? Barren? Whatever feelings he was having, it certainly wasn't a pleasant one.

Another sigh escaped him, bringing the young man out of his memory trip.

Maybe it was also time for him to travel to a different kingdom, as he told himself all those years ago on that Vacuo hotel balcony.

' _Vale huh?'_ he mused as he took another sip of his bourbon.

But just as he was about to head back inside, a sudden question came to his mind. Now that he thought about it, it was a wonder why he never asked this before.

"Where is Beacon anyway?"

* * *

 **AN** : A bit of a info/expo dump, I hope you guys didn't mind too much. Next chapter is finally the start of the canon. Don't be afraid to ask questions if you have any, and as always, have a good one! :)

P.S. If you are wondering why the cover art keeps changing, I just wanted to let you know that I am not the one doing it. The site does it on its own for some reason, and it cycles through some random pics from my library. So don't worry, Yury did not spontaneously turn into a magikarp or a shark. (Just a site acting out).


	6. Chapter 6 - First Encounter

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 6 - First Encounter

* * *

" _Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the Fasten Seat Belt sign. If you haven't already done so, please take your seat and fasten your seat belt. And also make sure your seat-"_

Yury tuned out the inflight announcement as he checked for the third time to see if he was in the right seat.

A-03. Yep, it was his.

As he sank into his seat, the young man couldn't help but wonder what this was all about.

It has been approximately a week since he's decided to move to Vale as per his decision all those years ago in Vacuo.

It also has been a week since he's mentioned this to Thea, and the Nikos matriarch was generous enough to gift him a airship ticket.

She never mentioned the ticket was for a first-class seat.

He had his suspicions when he noticed that she looked slightly elated while he mentioned his plans, as well as how eager she was in getting him a ticket, but he chalked it up to her gifting her friend a small farewell gift. After all, she did mention that the airship was one of those that had to stop and be refueled once before reaching its destination. He supposed it was one of those cheaper transport airship.

He was wrong.

Apparently, the ship he was boarding was for those who wished to travel in comfort, while taking the scenic route.

He was beginning to wonder if there was more to the situation.

' _Am I overthinking things?'_ he idly wondered.

He sighed as he softly shook his head. _'I suppose something like this isn't that big of a deal to rich folks.'_ He thought whilst he glanced around his "seat".

His cabin, more like.

The airship provided him an entire room for the young man to use all by himself. The room had soft velvet carpet covering its floor, and coupled with its elegant wooden finish on the wall, the cabin gave off a cozy yet modern atmosphere. Not to mention its lavish furnishings such as television, fridge, small bar, decently sized bed, antique furnitures, and even a shower.

He mentally shrugged as he looked out his window, where he was greeted with a rather familiar scene of Mistralian night view.

' _Might as well, I suppose.'_ The young man thought, as he searched the room for something to drink.

He had about a week to burn on this ship after all.

* * *

"So…" he drawled with voice tinged with exasperation as he lazily regarded the figure before him. "Any particular reason why you are still following me?"

A bright smile was the only thing that greeted him.

The young man sighed as he mulled over his time on this ship.

Another sigh escaped him.

He was having such a good time too.

 _\- Few minutes prior-_

Despite only being on board for three days, Yury wondered if this place was what he's been looking for in his entire life.

A paradise.

Every day, he would sleep in for as long as he wished. He didn't have to cook himself a meal, didn't have to work, didn't have to deal with any annoying customers, and did he mention he could sleep in?

Life was good for the young man.

' _Thea is love, Thea is life.'_ he mentally chanted as he made his way down to the dining hall.

But just as he was about to round a corner, he was tackled onto the ground by something very fast and very solid.

As the young man fell to the ground, time slowed down for him. His mind was running mile a minute despite his muted expression of surprise.

' _Caught me off-guard, meaning either there were no ill intent or it's being very carefully controlled.'_ He calmly analyzed as he slowly (at least to him) made his descent to the floor.

' _So far, no noticeable attack has been performed, assuming the former conclusion.'_ The young man was mere feet away from hitting the ground. _'Meaning, it was just some idiot that ran into me.'_

He mentally groaned when he noticed something. Whoever it was that tackled him, had his or her Aura unlocked.

' _Potential huntsman/huntress encounter.'_

His last thoughts about the situation he was about to be dragged into, could be summarized in three simple words.

What a pain.

When the duo finally made contact with the unforgiving tiles below them, an overly excited and chipper voice greeted him from above.

"Are you my destined one?"

 _-Present-_

And here they were, sitting across from each other while having a lunch on the ship's dining hall.

Well, at least he was, the girl was just having a glass of water.

Another tired sigh escaped him.

"Don't you have anything better to do than following me around kid?" The young man said as he poured himself a glass of wine. "Like bothering your parents?"

"My father is currently very tired from all his work, and he's resting in his room right now." She turned her eyes on him, her neon green orbs shining with confusion. "And I do not see how bothering my father is better than getting to know my destined one."

Yury was starting to feel all the telltale signs of migraine as he massaged his temple. "And since when did I become your _'destined one'?_ " He questioned with an air quote.

The girl smiled enthusiastically at him. "Why, ever since we ran into each other in that fateful corridor!"

"And where _exactly_ did you hear that?" On the contrary, his voice was dull and lifeless.

Instead of answering him, she simply handed him a book she produced out of nowhere.

"... Listen kid, I don't know how old you are," he rasped out after seeing the offending literature. "but you really shouldn't confuse reality with fiction, doubly so if the said fiction is some sappy romance manga."

The girl cocked her head slightly to the side in confusion. "But my father said that best inspirations always come from works of fiction."

"That depends on the fict-" A thought struck him just then, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer to his question.

"Hey kid," Yury felt like he was about to open the Pandora's Box. "Where did you get that book?"

"I got it from my father's study of course!" She smiled as she proudly held out the book.

"... I see." The young man finally managed to respond after few seconds of awkward silence. "To each their own I suppose." He more or less whispered the last part to himself.

"So… You are not my destined one?" She asked after a moment of reflection.

"I highly doubt it kid." The young man deadpanned.

"Awww… But it's okay, maybe next time you will be!" She beamed at him enthusiastically.

' _Is this brat serious?'_ he couldn't help but wonder. Never before in his life have he seen this much of an airhead, that it actually left him astonished.

Said astonishment turned into mild curiosity.

"What's your name anyway kid?"

At his inquiry, she perked up and answered energetically. "Penny Polendina, at your service!" She finished with a salute.

"... Yury." His response was much milder. "Pleasure to meet you."

A sound of faint gasp drew his attention to the now named Penny. Just as he was about to ask her if she was alright, she beat him to the punch.

"Do you really mean that?" she asked in a small voice.

"Pardon?" the young man couldn't help but raise his brows in confusion.

"Am I… pleasant to be around?" She urged on.

Alarm bells. That's what Yury was hearing in his head. His weirdo senses were most definitely tingling.

The young man sighed.

He knew he was going to regret this, but he couldn't help it, despite knowing the 'correct' answer.

"Sure kid, why not?" he replied with a resigned lopsided grin. He wondered when he's gotten so soft. He blamed a certain red-haired brat for that.

"Mmmmmm~!" His reminiscence of the certain champion were interrupted by the girl sitting across from him. "Sensational!" she exclaimed.

That certainly drew quite a number of looks from tables around them.

Yea, he was already regretting this.

* * *

 _-In an undisclosed location-_

"Is everything prepared?" A gruff voice questioned.

Failure was unacceptable, this mission was crucial to their cause.

"Yes sir, all units are prepared and ready to move out at your command."

The figure nodded. They were on a tight schedule after all.

"Good, tell the boys to move out. Double time." The figure ordered.

They finally found him, after all those years of searching, they finally found him.

The figure's face twisted into a bloodthirsty smile.

He will not fail this mission.

* * *

"Look kid," his voice was bordering on pleading. "I've entertained you for a whole day, can't you at least leave me alone when I'm in my room?"

His response was the same clueless expression of curiosity and confusion that was beginning to grate on him.

"But my father said that best way to learn a person's character is by observing him when he is alone." She oh-so innocently replied.

Oh Yury had some choice words prepared for her father as well if he were ever to meet the man. His 'teachings' to the girl has been nothing more than a headache for the former CP9 agent.

While her odd mannerisms and logics amused the young man at times, it more often than not baffled him. Sure, she appeared to be a young lady in her peak of teenage years, but Yury couldn't shake off the feeling that he was babysitting a precocious toddler. It was either that her _esteemed_ father is extremely overprotective of her, or that she is a natural airhead of the highest caliber.

Now, Yury may have only known her for a paltry six hours or so, but he was beginning to worry for her future.

There were people who thrived on preying on girls like her after all.

He sighed for what seemed like an umpteenth time since his meeting with the eccentric girl, as he silently prayed for her future.

' _I wonder since when did I grow so nosy?'_ he mused.

A certain meddling champion came to his mind. _'Of course…'_ he thought with a silent groan.

But speaking of his little red haired menace, he couldn't remember the last time he was able to be so free, to be so unrestricted, to be so-

"Oh god…" he unconsciously whispered. To the young man's horror, he realized that he was beginning to sound like a whipped husband, away from his overbearing wife while enjoying his freedom as he was off on a business trip or something.

Yury quickly shook his head to rid himself of such self-deprecating thoughts. It wasn't like he was going to see her anytime soon.

Right?

 _Bzzzzzt Bzzzzzt Bzzzzzt_

As if to answer his silent inquiry, his scroll began to ring.

The young man's body became suddenly rigid.

Only the Nikos ladies knew his number.

With all the caution of handling a extremely volatile substance, he slowly reached for his scroll in his pocket. Yet while doing so, he couldn't help but feel somewhat silly. It wasn't like he did anything wrong, he had no reason to feel nervous.

Pity his thoughts did little to soothe his nerves while he silently stared at the caller ID.

 _Pumpkin Princess_. It simply read.

"Who is that?" Penny, ever oblivious to his inner turmoil, asked curiously.

Seeing no harm in telling her, Yury answered her while still refusing to look away from his scroll. "A certain red-haired brat." he simply said.

"A friend?" his orange haired companion asked without losing her ever curious tone, as she peered over his shoulder.

"I suppose…" he answered in a slightly detached manner, while he continued to stare at his scroll as if it was going to bite his hand at any moment.

"Then what are you waiting for!" Before the young shop owner could even register her words, a deceptively quick hand snaked passed his shoulder and pressed the "answer" button. Soon enough, a very familiar face greeted him with a warm smile through the holoscreen.

However, as her eyes roamed over his shoulder, said warmth in her smile vanished in an instant as it was replaced by something else.

A mild shiver went down his spine. Yury knew that look the little champion was giving him. A sense of foreboding filled his heart.

"H-Hey princess." It was the young man who broke the silence first. He flashed his signature lazy grin, but his grin came out a bit too stiff to be natural. "How are you settling in? The locals treating you okay?"

She didn't immediately answer, which made the ex-assassin sweat a bit inside.

"Hello." After a few more seconds of deafening silence, she finally replied. "My name is Pyrrha Nikos, the four time champion of Mistral regional tournament, and a top graduate of Sanctum academy." She answered with a confidence and grace befitting of a royalty as she looked at the figure behind him. She completely ignored the young man in front of her. "And who might you be?" Her eyes were giving off a strange glint.

' _What's up with those gaudy introductions?'_ the young man thought. As bratty as she was, it pretty much only applied to her when she was alone with him (much to his chagrin). To others, despite her fame, she was pretty much a picture perfect model citizen with a healthy dose of humility.

"Salutations!" The young man sighed as he winced slightly. Did she really have to shout out her greetings right next to his ears? "My name is Penny Polendina! It is a pleasure to meet you!"

Too bad the princess did not share her enthusiasm.

"Indeed." was her curt answer.

After a few seconds of staring at the orange haired girl behind him, the red haired princess turned her eyes on him.

What sinister thoughts she had behind her emerald green eyes, he cared not to figure it out. His priority lied in appeasing the storm that was sure to come his way in the future.

"Whatever you are assuming, it's not true."

"Oh?" She replied to him for the first time. "Then please, do enlighten me." The princess said with a sickeningly sweet voice. "Because to me, it certainly looks like you were enjoying yourself, indulging in your beastly desires." she finished with a smile that was a bit too wide.

' _Since when did her vocabulary become so colorful?'_ he grumbled as he prepared to present his innocence of whatever crime that the princess has deemed him guilty of. But before he could even begin, a excited voice cut through his thoughts like **Rankyaku**.

"Why, yes! Yury said I was indeed a pleasure to be around!" She finished with a happy smile.

A loud smack was heard throughout the otherwise silent room as the young man's palm hit his face.

A single word came to the forefront of his mind.

 _Abort_.

"I'll call you back." he simply said as he swiftly ended the call.

Silence once again descended on the room.

"Penny?" Despite the situation, his voice was calm and collected.

"Yes, Yury?"

"Ever heard of the phrase _'reading the mood'_?" The young man lightly asked.

"No, I do not believe I have yet." She answered honestly.

An explosive sigh was her response.

' _Whatever.'_ he thought as he regarded the girl behind him. She gave him a smile as his steel grey met her neon green. _'She probably didn't mean to.'_ he rationalized.

"Well, I suggest you-"

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by an alarm blazing throughout the entire airship.

"Unidentified aircraft approaching from the south side of the ship, all passengers please report to your closest safe room available. I repeat-" the pre-recorded message announced along with the blazing alarm.

Now, Yury liked to consider himself a rather easy going guy, but when life constantly screwed him over by throwing him into troublesome events like this, especially when it hasn't even been three minutes since the whole fiasco with Pyrrha, the young man couldn't help but feel substantial amount of annoyance bubbling up within him.

And it was progressively getting worse… until something snapped in his mind.

The ex-CP9 had the faintest of smile adorning his face. It wasn't a gentle smile however, as it was more akin to the expression of an apex predator catching a whiff of its prey.

After everything he's been through today, he could _really_ use a stress relief.

Without further ado, the young man made his way to the door like a man with a purpose, but not before activating his semblance since he was not in a mood for babysitting anymore.

Just as he was about to open the door, a voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Where are you going?"

The surprise was enough to curb his irritation to a some degree, as he slowly turned around. He said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Interesting…"

* * *

' _This is too easy.'_

The resistance, if one can even call it that, wasn't even enough to faze him. The security was powerless to stop him, the tin cans were no match against him. But he wasn't here to show his superiority against these fools.

No, his objective was to find that man. Everything else was secondary.

His determined stride stopped in front of a certain door. A steel door.

Electricity sparked around him as he reared his arm for a punch, and as soon as his fist made contact with the steel frame, arcs of plasma, along with a deafening _boom,_ lashed out to anything that was nearby.

Walls were singed, lights above exploded, and any electrical tools within blast range short circuited.

As for the door, it was nothing more than a molten slag.

When he made his way inside, he was greeted by a battalion of armed personnel aiming their respective weapons at him.

But even after witnessing the seemingly dire odds, he was the very picture of calm. His eyes were focused solely on the lone figure in the back.

His previously impassive face turned into a small, yet beastly smile.

"Good evening, Doctor."

* * *

"Interesting…"

It appears that there were more to the girl than what he initially thought.

"Say Penny, who am I?"

If she really was what he thought she was, she would most likely answer, "Yury Lloyd, my friend of course!"

As far as he knew, his semblance cloaked him from every organic beings. Be it animal, Grimm, human, and faunus, all were affected by it. Well, all but one.

Machines.

' _You know, that actually explains quite a bit.'_ he thought with some amusement.

He made a motion for her to follow him, and despite the blazing alarm, neither of them were in a hurry.

While on the way to whatever destination they were headed, the young man made a small talk with the "girl" next to him.

"So, you said you were from Atlas correct?"

"Mhm" she answered honestly.

' _So she's an Atlas hardware then, no doubt military.'_ the young man concluded. "Do you have any siblings?"

At that, her expression turned slightly thoughtful, as if she couldn't decide on an definite answer.

"No, I believe I am an only child." Came the final response.

' _Prototype model, safe to assume still in developmental phase. Yet to be mass produc-'_

His inner analysis was cut off when he heard a small gasp coming from the girl next to him.

"What's wrong?" Naturally, he was curious.

"Father…" she slowly said in a quivering voice. It didn't take long for her to take off in a surprisingly fast sprint.

' _Distress signal?'_ he deduced, as he swiftly made his way to follow the girl. It appeared that whoever was hijacking this ship was after her father, most likely her creator.

Now that he was once again reminded of the source of all the noises and alarms blazing around him, his previously forgotten sense of irritation radiated within him anew.

His annoyance compounded when he noticed men in familiar white uniforms and masks preparing to engage Penny.

' _No matter.'_ the young man concluded as he reared his leg. _'They'll do as a stress ball.'_

At that moment, a subdued yet noticeable grin made its way to his face. Coupled with his glasses giving off an eerie glow, he made for a quite the sinister visage.

' _ **Rankyaku.'**_

* * *

"Why are you doing this?" A cold sweat trickled down the Doctor's neck as he asked his assailant what was at the forefront of his mind.

The smell of cooked flesh and burnt rubber permeated throughout the room. The guards assigned by his good friend James were now nothing more than a charred clump of carbon or a molten slag on the floor.

A small chuckle rippled throughout the otherwise deathly silent room. "There are plenty of reasons for doing this, but this is not the time nor the place." Despite his emotionless tone, Doctor could detect a tinge of amusement bleeding into his voice.

"We will have plenty of time to get to know each other later on, but right now, I need you to come with me Doctor." The man said as he subtly gestured toward the door.

"And if I refuse?" He needed to stall. At the very least until the General made his way here.

His only response were arcs of deadly electricity sparking dangerously around his attacker.

"I insist." Was the short yet cold answer.

Whatever retort he had prepared was caught in his throat when he heard a familiar voice of his daughter.

"Father!"

"Penny!?" Dread filled his heart. What was she doing here? How did she-

He cursed under his breath.

The distress signal. Penny was directly linked to the Atlas military server. She must've overheard the signal meant for the General.

The image of molten slag came to his mind as panic started to pool in his gut.

"Penny get out of here!" He tried to warn her, but it was too late as his attacker had already launched the deadly arc of plasma towards his beloved daughter.

But just as the lethal attack was about to strike her, she was pulled by an unseen force by her arm, allowing her to narrowly avoid the devastating attack.

"Thank you, friend!"

' _Who is she talking to?'_ Dr. Polendina tried his hardest to see if there were any figures around his daughter, but he didn't notice anything that was out of the ordinary.

' _Is someone helping her remotely?'_ That would explain her talking to the thin air, but the question was, how? He personally made sure that Penny would be next to impossible to hack into, so perhaps it was remote assistance from the General?

' _Doesn't matter.'_ he thought after a moment as he watched his daughter continue to narrowly dodge the barrage of electrical attacks. _'Priority lies in safe escape.'_

Not a second later he finished his thoughts, Penny landed next to him after dodging the last of her enemy's attacks. But before he can even say anything, he felt a sensation of something wrapping around his waist.

Next thing he knew, he was in a corridor, just before the room that he was in mere seconds ago. He didn't have enough time to wonder however, as his world began to spin, the sense of nausea quickly settled within him. He vaguely noticed that Penny was carrying him on her back.

As if noticing his attention on her, she was quick to reassure him.

"Don't worry Father, Yury said he will take care of the rest!" She beamed at him with the smile he loved so much.

Relief, along with fatigue, washed over his entire being.

' _So much for a vacation.'_ he thought as sleep slowly overtook him.

But just before he was within the comforting embrace of Morpheus, a thought struck him.

' _Who's Yury?'_

* * *

He was annoyed.

In fact, he was extremely annoyed.

Just as he was about to get his prey, it was snatched away by some pesky girl with weird movements.

Frown marred his otherwise blank face behind his mask. A spoiled hunt always ruined his mood.

"Hello there."

A simple greeting, but it cut through his thoughts deeper than the sharpest of swords.

He whirled around in a battle stance to attack, only to laugh as he noticed the faintly glowing steel grey orbs.

He couldn't believe he became so serious, albeit for a moment, against someone like the boy before him.

He was a nobody. He was not even worth his time.

"Do you mind answering some of my questions?" The insignificant boy asked.

Deciding to humor the boy, he nodded. "Make it quick, I have somewhere to be."

"Why are you here?" The nobody asked.

Normally, he would be much more tight-lipped when regarding any details about his missions, but when he saw the smiling boy before him, he couldn't help but scoff.

Like telling an insignificant nobody like him would cause any problems.

"We need the Doctor for the access codes for all Atlas military hardwares."

The boy hummed. It was actually fairly amusing to watch the boy think, as if anything from his meager brain could make any difference to anyone.

He chuckled as he shook his head. _'How quaint'_ he thought.

"Anything else?" the boy continued to ask.

"Everything else is secondary, though some did suggest we make him build weapons for us afterwards. Why waste a talent like that after all?"

The insignificant boy simply shrugged. Well, it wasn't like he expected someone of his status to understand.

"What kingdom are you guys most active in?"

That made him think for a bit. While he would have liked to say Atlas, being the biggest target for their organization for its infamous mistreatment of his brothers and sisters, it was no longer the case.

"Vale." he finally answered. "For some reason, a substantial amount of our resources are being transferred to Vale."

At that, the boy let out an exasperated sigh, while muttering _'Just my luck'_ under his breath.

"Your name?" the nobody asked after collecting himself.

"Most people just call me captain." Apparently, that was good enough for the boy as well.

"Last question, are you a lion faunus?"

That made the captain blink for a bit in mild surprise. "How did you know?" he asked curiously.

At that the boy simply stared at the charred floors and walls.

"Just a guess." he coolly replied while shrugging nonchalantly.

"Well," the captain said as he glanced at his watch. "If you are done with your little game of 20 questions, I'll be on my way."

To his annoyance, the boy interrupted him once again.

"I'm afraid I can't let you go just yet, captain."

"What do you-"

 _PAIN!_

Pain exploded from his midsection, and soon his back, as he crashed through multiple layers of steel walls with a deafening _crash_.

He was sure whatever just hit him, has caused him some internal bleeding.

Rage.

Rage filled him as he made his way to the room he was in before. He swore to himself that he would make whoever did this to him pay thousand times over.

Soon enough, he was back to the room where he initially met the Doctor.

Electricity sparked around him uncontrollably as he regarded the sole figure in the room.

"My curiosity may have been sated," the captain barely registered his words through his rage filled mind. "But I'm afraid there are still some pent up steam within me that I have yet to blow off." The figure before him calmly said after quietly taking off his jacket, leaving him in his grey dress shirt and black vest. "I hope you understand."

The captain had a vague sense of déjà vu when he saw the figure's steel grey eyes, but his fury was too great to ponder about things like that.

"Who the hell are you?" he growled at him.

At his infuriated tone, the figure before him simply smiled as he rolled up his sleeves and tightened his black leather gloves.

"Just a simple retiree."

* * *

' _Hope this one lasts a bit longer than the other ones.'_ Yury thought as he deactivated his semblance after kicking him.

His semblance sometimes made things too easy, and being too easy wouldn't help very much when he wanted to enjoy himself. It has been too long since he had his last private Grimm hunt, so he had to do with what he had available. Pity he would have to limit himself if he wanted this to last though.

Still, he never planned to let the self-proclaimed captain leave this ship alive in the first place. Deactivating his semblance was inconsequential.

As expected, the lion faunus did not look very pleased when he made his way back.

After a short banter, he finally seemed that he's had enough, as he launched a sizable lance of lightning at him.

' _Impressive speed.'_ Yury thought, mildly surprised. _'But still not enough.'_ A simple twist of his feet was enough to let the deadly lance fly harmlessly by, which seemed to infuriate his foe even more.

This time, the faunus came blitzing in with his fist reared back, arcs of lightning trailing close behind him.

Deciding to humor him, he decided to take the punch.

' _ **Tekkai'**_

When the fist was about to strike, Yury realized something.

Tekkai only nullified physical damage.

The sting of electricity filled where the fist made contact with his body as he crashed into a nearby wall. His opponent wasn't finished however, as he continued to rain down his lightning charged fist upon the downed young man.

Now, since he still had his **Tekkai** active, he didn't even feel the barrage of punches and kicks raining down on him.

It was the electricity that was causing him issues. While his aura took care of majority of the elemental damage, enough of it still passed through to cause him mild pain, and to interfere with his motor functions.

For the first time since coming to the world of Remnant, the young man found himself being pressed in combat.

But despite enduring the vicious volley of attacks and the pain littering his body, Yury was grinning as if he was having the time of his life.

And he was.

The sense of urgency, the pain, the wild beating of his heart, the thrill of battle. It's been so long that he's almost forgotten.

This was precisely what he needed to relieve his pent up stress.

And he wanted, no, he needed more.

The young man acknowledged the foe before him as someone worthy enough to use something he hasn't used in battle ever since his arrival.

At that moment, his entire body turned into a deepest shade of obsidian black.

The sudden change was enough to momentarily halt the attacks from the lion faunus. But a brief window of hesitation was all the opening needed for Yury to make his counter attack.

His haki clad fist made contact with the faunus' ribcage with a sickening crack of breaking bones, as he was once again sent flying to a nearby wall.

Howl of agony and rage rang throughout the entire ship, as the faunus captain exploded out from the hole he's crashed through.

The beastly roar was probably enough to petrify any lesser man, yet it only seemed to excite the young man even more.

At this point, Yury had a grin so wide that it threatened to split his face in half.

But despite the viciousness of the captain's attacks, it was evident that he was starting to get desperate.

Whenever he would land a hit, the young man would shrug them off like it was nothing. Whenever he would launch an attack, Yury would meet the challenge head on with equal, if not more potent attacks. Whatever of the elemental damage the faunus dealt was also curbed significantly by his haki, all the while when the captain's aura reserves were only getting lower and lower.

Eventually, desperation lead to frustration, and frustration lead to indiscretion. His techniques became sloppy, and his movements turned clumsy.

As if to mock his failings, a disappointed sigh escaped the young man's mouth. For Yury, who was just about to truly enjoy himself in the prospect of a real battle, it was quite disappointing for his opponent to suddenly fall flat like that.

Another sigh escaped him. _'How disappointing…'_ he thought as his previous battle high came down to an abrupt end, no longer in the mood for fighting.

' _So much for using my haki.'_ he mused wistfully.

After the captain was sent flying once more after a particularly brutal kick, the retired CP9 agent figured that it was about high time he wrapped things up.

"While it didn't exactly go as I had hoped, I enjoyed our fight captain." He continued as he made his way to the wheezing figure crumpled on the ground. "As a show of my appreciation, I will grant you a swift and painless death." The young man said as he placed his finger over the downed man's heart.

While the gasping faunus did not say anything, his eyes behind his mask were another story.

Hatred. Anger. Frustration. Sorrow. Fear. Resignation.

All those powerful emotions coalesced into a single message.

 _This isn't over._

A faint chuckle escaped the shop owner's lips, as if he found the message particularly humorous.

With that, Yury reared back his gloved hands, aiming his finger towards the lion faunus' heart.

"Goodnight, Captain."

* * *

 **AN** : Fight scenes aren't exactly my forte, but I hope it wasn't too bad. I wanted to make Yury's fight with the captain a parallel to Alucard's with Luke Valentine from Hellsing, where Alucard was so excited at the prospect of having a proper fight, only to be severely disappointed when his enemy turned out to be a pushover. I really hope I delivered that vibe. As always, don't be afraid to ask me any questions if you have any!

* * *

 **Omake**

"I'll call you back."

With that callous farewell, he ended his call.

For what felt like an hour, Pyrrha sat still as a statue in her hotel sofa.

Eventually, the deathly silence broke when a faint laughter rang out.

"Kukukukuku…."

' _While I'm having such a hard time adjusting to the void left by him…'_

The laughter was getting progressively louder.

' _He sure is enjoying himself… isn't he?'_

The room itself began to groan in stress as its entire structure began to bend and stretch ever so slightly.

' _It appears we have much to discuss when we meet next time… Yury._ '

Next morning, many residents staying in that hotel claimed that their room was haunted after hearing the dreadful laughter of an vengeful spirit, and the shaking of rooms and furnitures that soon followed afterwards.


	7. Chapter 7 - Brave New World

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 7 - Brave New World

* * *

The beautiful, scarlet sky was the perfect backdrop for a normal evening in downtown Vale. Crowded pavements surrounded every skyscraper filled with the hustle and bustle of people hurrying on their way. The air was alive with gossips, freshly cooked food from stalls and noises produced by the masses of taxis in the crammed streets. And soon, the concrete jungle will come alive on another level as the thousands of tiny windows on the high-rise buildings will gift any onlookers with the breathtaking view of countless diamonds shining brilliantly.

Downtown Vale truly was a city that never slept.

And speaking of sleep…

Within one of those said high-rise buildings, was a figure. A figure who was currently sprawled out haphazardly on a sofa, enjoying his sweet, sweet nap.

 _Groowwwl~_

That was, until his hunger caught up to him.

"Ughh…" Yury always felt a bit groggy for the first few hours after waking up. But still, he couldn't remember the last time he's had such a quality nap.

Perhaps he's slept even a bit too well. He felt like a slob.

Maybe the little princess did have a point after all.

… Ah who was he kidding, he was going to draw this out for as long as he could.

As he lazily made his way down to the kitchen, he started his search for something suitable for him to eat. When he opened the fridge, he couldn't help but sigh. All he had were raw ingredients, where he would have to wash and prepare them in order for him to have a proper meal.

He really didn't feel like cooking right now, and he really didn't feel like going outside for a takeout as well.

Another sigh escaped him.

For all the complaints he's had for the princess, there certainly were times when he missed the kid.

Like now.

' _She makes a really good pasta, if I recall correctly.'_ He absentmindedly mused to himself as he scavenged his pantry for anything simple to fill his stomach.

Then, he saw it.

A laugh suddenly threatened to spill out within him when he spied a certain cereal box featuring a certain champion as its mascot.

He still hasn't let that go, much to her chagrin. It was cute how embarrassed she was about the whole thing.

When he first found out, it took everything he had to not to break down in an uncontrollable fit of laughter. He was in the middle of a crowded shopping mall after all.

The next day, he started calling her Pumpkin Princess.

The look on her face when she first saw him eating the said cereal in his cafe… Let's just say it was enough to wash away his months old fatigues in an instant.

He even had the box facing her and everything too! And to top it all off, he made sure to have the cheesiest grin on his face when she looked at him.

' _Ahhh…. Good times.'_ The young man recalled with half-lidded eyes and a silly smile on his face. Pity she would always throw away any of those offending cereals in his possession when she caught whiff of one, much to his annoyance.

Those cereals were expensive dammit! (For a cereal anyways.)

She would always claim that "They weren't healthy", but he knew she was just embarrassed about the whole ordeal. Hell, he would be too if the roles were reversed.

But that did little to stop him from buying more, just so he can have the satisfaction of seeing the cheeky brat losing her composure.

He even got a hoodie for buying over a hundred boxes, and it would forever be his prized trophy that symbolized his steadfast dedication of teasing the princess.

' _I thank you for the meal, my lady.'_ A mirthful chuckle rang throughout the kitchen as the young man prepared himself a nice big bowl of cereal for his dinner. But just as he finished pouring in the milk, a faint sound of glass shattering caught his sharp ears.

"Hm?" With the bowl still in his hands, he lazily made his way to where the sound came from.

Outside, down on the streets.

When he made his way to the terrace and peered down below, he was treated with a rather curious sight.

Judging from the context clues, some kind of robbery was taking place in the shop couple blocks down from his place.

But that wasn't what had his attention.

There was a girl, a girl clad in red who was locked in combat while wielding a scythe that was bigger than her.

' _There's something you don't see every day…'_ He thought as he slowly reached for his spoon.

The girl, using the recoil from her weapon, twirled around, hitting one of the jokers robbing the store which subsequently sent him flying. In that same fluid movement, she smashed another guy to the unforgiving pavement blow with a harsh crack.

"Oooh…" The young man not-so-sympathetically winced in the midst of his chewing. "Yea, he's going to feel that in the morning." A quiet chuckle escaped him as he continued to take in his sugary meal.

Once again using the recoil from her weapon, she started zipping around the street while dodging the gunfire aimed towards her. She eventually charged at the guy shooting at her, and by the looks of it, her velocity must have been greater than it appeared. The girl just ran straight through the poor guy, sending him dozens of feet up in the air. And with another twirl of her weapon, she knocked down the guy, who was still in the air, like he was some sort of piñata. (Which incited another rounds of "oooh and ahhh" from the young man above)

Now, it appeared that she was engaging in some pre-fight banter with what he could only assume was the boss.

Pity he couldn't hear their conversation since he was too high up, but nonetheless, he watched on curiously without stopping his spoon. He had to admit, cereals weren't a bad substitute for popcorns.

When the boss guy aimed his cane at the girl, the young man didn't expect much from it. So when he actually fired his weapon at her, Yury couldn't help but raise his brow at the firepower behind the deceptively mundane cane. It pretty much shredded a good chunk of the pavement.

The girl deftly dodged the shot by dramatically flipping to the air.

' _Mistake.'_ The former assassin critiqued before taking in another spoonful. _'Performing overly flashy evasion leads to increased chance of target leaving the line of sight, which the target will then use the opening to either attack or…'_ His eyes silently tracked the boss guy. _'to flee.'_

He fled to the building across and left to where the young man was currently at. And despite climbing to the top of the building, the guy was still a bit below Yury.

Soon enough, Red joined the boss man on the roof.

But by the time she caught up to him, it appeared that his ride was here. An ear-splitting screech of bullhead pierced through the quiet night sky. At this point, he had to wonder, where the _hell_ were the cops? And why did he even bother to pay his taxes?

He was brought out of his musing when he noticed the boss man throwing a red Dust crystal at the girl, soon after boarding his ride.

It landed right next to her with a soft _clink_.

Spoon still in his mouth, Yury lazily held out his free hand as if he was going to flick something.

He couldn't help but roll his eyes.

' _When your enemy throws something that can explode at you, don't just stare at it.'_

' _ **Tobu Shigan - Bachi'**_

The resulting impact of the compressed air bullet was enough to knock out the boss guy's shot of its flight path before it reached the girl.

But it appeared his small intervention was unnecessary.

With a dramatic flash, a new character made her debut to the little show he was witnessing.

From above, it was difficult to make out exact details of her features, her only distinguishable detail being her blonde hair. And with the new cast in play, the show started once more with renewed vigor.

Spectacular dust attacks were being thrown around like it was going out of style. Elaborate force fields were created with what looked like ancient runes. Storms were being called upon with a simple flick of her weapon.

Yury was beginning to worry he was going to run out of cereals before the show ended.

And what's this? It appeared that the boss man also had an ace up his sleeve as well.

Pyromancer, by the looks of it.

Explosions. His ace sure loved making things explode.

' _I hope whoever owns that building has a good insurance.'_ Despite the apparent direness of the situation, Yury couldn't help the amusement bubbling up within him as he watched on.

Soon, with one last glorious explosion, the boss man and his ace made their hasty escape. And now, with the Blonde escorting Red away, his rather abrupt yet not unwelcome evening entertainment came to an end.

And by the sound of it, the ever-vigilant police have _finally_ decided to show themselves.

With a quiet chuckle and a shake of his head, Yury soundlessly retreated back to his "humble" abode.

An understatement of the century perhaps, considering he was currently staying in possibly one of the most expensive hotels in Vale.

In its penthouse, no less.

All around him, he was surrounded by masterfully designed rooms and luxurious yet elegant furnishings. Every details were carefully selected and quality crafted; High performance Dust-infused lights and shade systems, heated bathroom floors, concrete first-level and hallway floors, teak wood bedroom flooring, troweled plaster walls and ceilings, artworks display lighting, hidden mechanicals, a climate-control system, high-tech security system, and spacious corner rooms that overlook the city.

The top-of-the-line chef's kitchen clad with premium finishes and fixtures including custom white lacquer cabinets, bluestone counters and professional-grade appliances. Sliding glass doors in the dining area showcase views while opening up the home to even more light and air. There also was the awe-inspiring terrace which can be accessed from any room, where a fully-equipped outdoor stainless steel kitchen, sun deck, hot tub and private outdoor shower awaited.

And how could he forget the two dramatic stairways leading to the private bedroom suites, all boasting sleek en-suite baths, generous closets and wonderful views?

But perhaps the most unique feature about this lovely place was that it was in fact one-of-a-kind glass house, sheathed in high-performance, museum-quality, Dust-reinforced insulated glass. The sun and temperature-controlled glass that enveloped its interior was tastefully designed with the top art collector in mind.

Unobstructed 360 views from this penthouse were truly unparalleled.

And it was all his, thanks to a certain General.

 _Bzzzzzt Bzzzzzt Bzzzzzt_

Speaking of the Devil…

"How is my favorite General doing in this fine evening?" Yury cheerfully answered his call. Combined with quality nap, meal (all matter of perspective), and entertainment, the young man couldn't have been in a better mood.

But it appeared someone did not share his sentiment.

"How am I doing you ask…?" The Atlesian General replied with small smile. Too stiff to be genuine however. "Well, I _was_ doing rather well actually, peaceful… quiet… a rather mundane day if I do say so myself."

Yury nodded along with a nonchalant smile, never noticing the increasing twitch of General's brows as he continued. "I _would_ have considered today not a bad day all things considered… Until I saw _THIS_." He spat out the last part like it was one of the vilest words ever to exist as he shoved a report of some kind in front of the camera.

It was a copy of the contract regarding his housings, i.e. the penthouse.

Yury told him as such.

Apparently, he did not like that answer.

"Yes Lloyd, I can read. But what I cannot _possibly_ comprehend is your reasoning behind the fact that you purchased a penthouse FROM THE MOST EXPENSIVE HOTEL IN VALE, USING THE MILITARY BUDGET!"

It was amusing how red his face was getting. It contrasted quite well with his white uniform.

"But you said Atlas would foot the bill for my living arrangements, in return for my cooperation?" the young man asked innocently, perhaps too innocent to be genuine.

"Yes, I said that. But when I said 'living arrangement', I did not mean that you could spend upwards of 50 _MILLION LIEN_ ON A PLACE YOU SIMPLY SLEEP IN!"

The general had to visibly calm himself after finishing his rant. But apparently, he wasn't quite done.

"And let's just pretend for a moment, that none of this happened, that you did not just waste _MILLIONS_ of Lien needlessly…" The General rasped out after once again taking in several calming breaths as he shakily turned the page of his report.

"Why the _hell_ did you feel the need to buy the Stallion 458 Mistral!? You could probably RUN FASTER!" He was starting to hyperventilate again.

Yury, who was finding this situation all too amusing, once again innocently replied.

"But my dear General, what if I sprain my ankle when I'm chasing the bad guys? It would significantly limit my combat potential." He finished with a slight tilting of his head.

"Damn it Lloyd, I can have you court-martialed for this!"

With his ever unflappable attitude, the young man simply shrugged.

"You can, but you won't. What was it that you said to me after I completed your little test with the tin cans?" The young man airily commented as he adopted a thinking pose.

"Oh yea, I believe it was something along the lines of 'Name your price.'"

"I _said,_ I was willing to _compromise_."

At that the young man simply smiled as he said, "Details, General."

For the longest time, both men stared.

One smiled, while the other glared. After what felt like an eternity, the latter eventually folded.

"You'd better be worth the investment Lloyd." The Atlesian General stoically replied, anger and frustration still present within his eyes. "For your sake."

The smile on the young man only grew wider as he calmly replied.

"Have I ever failed to deliver?"

A deadpanned look was his response. "That remains to be seen."

With his last piece said, the General ended his call.

A small, triumphant grin adored the former CP9's face as he went over his memory of the event.

 _Shortly after the whole hijacking incident, Yury was rather abruptly pulled aside and escorted by one of those Atlesian Knights when he was waiting for his flight to Vale. Eventually, he was led to a room where a certain General was waiting for him._

 _General James Ironwood._

 _Probably Penny had something to do with his inauspicious meeting with the General. He didn't blame the kid however. Considering who she was, she probably didn't have a choice when questioned. Quite literally._

 _With a quiet sigh, he went over his options._

 _His semblance wouldn't help much since they were already aware of him, and he was most likely in the system by now. They would simply find him again, even if he managed to slip out. Forcing his way wouldn't do either, since he didn't fancy the life of a fugitive at the moment. He needed to compromise._

 _And compromise he did._

 _After giving the General his standard cover story, they argued._

 _They argued for a long time._

 _From reaffirming the young man's origins to questioning his past involvement with the White Fang incidents, it was quite a tedious chore for Yury._

 _Apparently, the Spector was quite famous amongst certain circles like the White Fang and the military. And after his little "test" from the General, it seemed he became even more famous._

 _It did not take long for the General to try to recruit him, stating that wasting talents like that would be crime against the people of Remnant._

 _Yury obviously did the right thing and answered with a resounding no._

 _They argued some more._

 _In the end, after a long and arduous debate, Yury and the General settled on a deal. He would do one job for the general, and not only will he be granted full operational control, he would also be off-the-records and outside the Atlesian Council jurisdiction. But in return for not receiving any salaries (since he's off-records), he would be reimbursed for any housing, living, and mission expenses by the Atlesian Military._

A quiet chuckle rang throughout the otherwise empty room.

Yury could be quite petty when it came to his peace and quiet.

But the said chuckle did not last very long, as it was soon replaced by an annoyed sigh.

It would appear he now had a part time job aside from running his quiet cafe.

* * *

James Ironwood was not a happy camper at the moment.

It wasn't every day that you see the normally calm and stoic Atlesian General this off-kilter, but this was a special case.

Yury Lloyd, code name Spector.

When he first met the young man at the airport, it was a bit difficult to believe that he was _the_ Specter who single handedly shut down what could have potentially been a very dangerous situation all those years ago. But the General knew better than to assume. In fact, all the "bullet" wounds from the fallen Fang members along with the footage recovered from Penny's memory, undoubtedly indicated that who he was dealing with was the real deal.

After a short talk, he decided to test him. He couldn't be too careful, after all.

It took a bit of goading (read, a lot), but eventually the young man complied. However he did have to promise Lloyd that he would personally escort him to Vale since his "pointless test" made him miss his "heavenly ride."

The next few minutes were when the General learned the new meaning of the phrase, "Looks can be deceiving".

The test ended almost as soon as it began.

It actually baffled the General.

The latest Paladin class mechs had armors thick enough to withstand at least three shots from his flagship's main cannons. It had enough power to push back a Goliath with ease. Its weapons systems were that of the most advanced cutting edge technology the world has yet to see.

And that man, Yury Lloyd, made dozens of them look like outdated toasters.

It was at that moment that the General realized he cannot afford to let a dangerous element like Lloyd go rogue. They were already pressed for manpower and resources in going against the Queen as it is, that having a person of that caliber against them just may be enough tip the scale against them once and for all.

No, that cannot happen.

He needed to seal the deal now.

For the first time since reaching his position, General James Ironwood, the Headmaster of the prestigious Atlas Academy, was willing to take the short end of the stick.

It was a sacrifice he was willing to make if it meant gaining a powerful ally (potentially).

It was a sacrifice he was beginning to second guess. How was he going to cover up millions of Lien just magically vanishing from his budget?

A long-suffering sigh rang throughout the otherwise silent General's office. He really shouldn't have allowed the young man to so freely dictate the conditions of his "employ".

And something told him that this was the first of many headaches to come. Perhaps he needed to send someone to monitor him?

With another heavy sigh, he reached for the secret compartment of his desk where he hid his most prized collection of Scotch.

He needed a drink.

Unfortunately for the General, it was not meant to be as he heard a set of knocks on his door.

' _Huh…'_ He glanced at his scroll.

Since his secretary did not ring in first, it must be either extremely urgent or it was someone he trusted. _'I really hope it's the latter.'_ he silently prayed.

"Come in"

The General let out a small breath of relief when he saw who it was.

"General Ironwood, Sir!" She saluted.

"At ease." He replied with a small smile.

Winter Schnee.

' _Why can't Lloyd be more like her? Disciplined, polite, respec-'_

"The Council is holding an emergency meeting in five minutes, and they are requesting your presence." Unknowingly cutting off his thoughts, the Specialist informed him before she rose her delicate brow in a questioning manner. "Something about financial discrepancies?"

What remnants of smile he had before quickly devolved into a grimace as he gently massaged his temples with a groan.

"Can it wait ten more minutes?"

He _really_ needed a drink.

* * *

 **AN:** A bit of a short one, hope you guys didn't mind too much. Don't be afraid to ask me any questions if you have any!

P.S. In case some of you didn't realize, Stallion 458 Mistral was a parody of Ferrari 458 Italia ;)


	8. Chapter 8 - Troublesome

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 8 - Troublesome

* * *

It was a slow day for Yury.

Despite it only being an early afternoon, the usual hustle and bustle of downtown Vale was unusually subdued. However it wasn't just his cafe that was having a slow day, the majority of the city as a whole was in a similar state.

Not that he minded, of course.

A small smile graced his lips as he looked out his shop's window.

It was pouring outside. And unlike most people, Yury loved the rain.

It made everything calm.

It made everything quiet.

It made everything appear peaceful.

It made him, however brief, forget about the unsightliness of the world.

A muted, yet content sigh escaped the young man's lips as he sipped his favorite tea before he once again admired the tranquil beauty that was outside.

The soft sound of rain mixing beautifully with the soothing melody of Clair De Lune, the serene view of the empty streets of downtown Vale… Yea, he didn't mind this at all.

It also gave the young man a lot of time to think as well.

To be more specific, about a certain Huntsmen academy that a certain acquaintance of his was attending.

Guess where Beacon was?

Yury couldn't help but grimace slightly at the thought. Who knew that the renowned Beacon academy was so close to where his cafe was located?

Everyone but him, apparently.

To be honest, he supposed hindsight was twenty-twenty. He should've known better than to connect the dots when most of his patrons were armed and were in their early to late teens.

Another quiet sigh escaped him but this time, it was laced with slight trepidation.

A certain willful princess will most definitely not be pleased.

It would only be a matter of time until she stumbles upon his cafe (considering a lot of future huntresses are frequent to his humble shop), and when she does…

' _I mean sure, I would like to imagine that we are close and she would gladly invite herself over to my life once again, but…'_

He took a glance at the clouds above.

' _We didn't exactly leave on a positive note last time we talked.'_ He mused as he took another sip of his calming beverage before grimacing slightly at another detail of the memory. _'...And I never called her back either.'_

Her tantrums and guilt trips were stuff of legends.

He should know, considering how he was the most frequent recipient of those said tantrums and guilt trips.

Just thinking about it was enough to make him groan.

Yet at the same time he couldn't help but think, "How the mighty have fallen…"

He was Yury Lloyd for crying out loud! The former member his home's deadliest assassination unit, and the youngest to ever be nominated to be part of CP-0 Aegis. His enemies trembled before him, ladies wanted him and men wanted to be him. Nations have fallen and risen at his hands, and mountains have been obliterated in his battles.

And here he was, acting like a harmless puppy before the willful princess.

But perhaps the most baffling thing (at least to him) was the fact that he didn't really mind. Never once did he think to lash out at her nor did her (at times) selfish requests ever bothered him too much.

It worried him.

He was seriously beginning to wonder if he was a closet masochist.

 _Ding_

Luckily for the young man, before he could delve any deeper down into the rabbit hole, a soft chime indicating a customer walking in brought him back to reality.

He glanced out his window. It was still pouring.

Nonetheless, his cafe was still technically open, so he went over to greet his customer.

' _Great…'_ He inwardly groaned after seeing her.

His senses may have dulled slightly over the years of his retirement, but he knew what kind of person he was dealing with the moment he saw her at the door.

But he supposed he couldn't be too careful…

"My name is Yury, and I'll be your waiter this afternoon, Miss…?" With a graceful bow, he gently took her hand before kissing it lightly.

Blood. He would have missed it if he wasn't looking for it, but her hands, masked beneath her sweet scent of perfume, had the faint yet unmistakable smell of blood.

The girl, looking highly amused yet oblivious to the thoughts of the young man before her, started typing on her scroll before showing it to him.

[Hi, I'm Neo!] She "said" with a cute smile.

"Well then Miss Neo, if you would follow me please." He replied with a smile of his own as he led her to a suitable table.

She never saw the young man comically shedding tears when he turned his backs on her.

' _Why can't I go a month without some random unintended encounters with weirdos and criminals!?'_ He inwardly cried out to the high heavens above.

* * *

Neapolitan, or Neo to those "close" to her, was bored. Roman was out of town for some errand to run, and he made it very clear that he wanted her to stay put while he was gone.

He wouldn't even let her "play" in the slums!

So with nothing else to do, she hit the streets in search of something to keep her entertained. But as luck would have it, it began pouring outside, and the city quickly took the appearance of a ghost town.

After aimlessly wandering around the noticeably empty city for hours, small frown marred her seemingly delicate face.

Bad things happened when she was bored.

' _Maybe I should go bother Junior?'_ She wondered with a soft sigh.

But just as she was about to turn her heels to pay Junior a visit, a small sign caught her eyes.

 _Silence is Golden_

Neo snorted in amusement. Wiser words were never spoken.

Without a second thought, she made her way towards the empty cafe.

Her curiosity was piqued.

When she made her way inside, she was soon greeted with a admittedly cute waiter.

"My name is Yury, and I'll be your waiter this afternoon, Miss…?"

And he proved to be just as interesting as the sign on his cafe when he gently kissed her hand.

Seeing no harm in doing so, she introduced herself.

[Hi, I'm Neo!]

As she was being led to her table, she let her lips twist into a sly smirk.

Finally, she found something to play with.

* * *

[Stay]

"I'm sorry Miss Neo, but I have other duties to attend to."

She gave him a cute pout, while still holding on to his sleeves.

[Stay]

Yury sighed.

She's been "chatting" with him for the past few hours or so, while refusing to let him go about his business.

Normally, he wouldn't have minded keeping a bored customer company. But normally, his customers were… well, _normal_. And she, Neo, was most certainly _not_ normal.

And if his past experiences were anything to go by, abnormals were, more often than not, trouble magnets.

' _At least the topics were relatively safe.'_ He thought with muted exasperation.

Despite being a mute (he assumed she was), she sure had a lot of things to say. From talking about her favorite food, to complaining about her new boss, she sure was a chatter box.

But that wasn't the issue.

The issue was that she was being a tad bit too _comfortable_ with him.

Over the course of their conversation, she was progressively getting bolder and bolder with her games.

It started out subtle, of course. A small lingering touches here and there, shy smiles, batting of her eyelashes.

The simple stuff.

She probably did it to get a reaction out of him, to turn him into her new "toy" as the ladies of the underworld were so prone to do.

But Yury himself was intimately familiar with this game of cat and mouse as well, and as such was no stranger to the advances from the ladies. And being a seasoned player of the game himself, he unintentionally launched an attack (albeit small) of his own.

Old habits died _really_ hard.

And it quickly became clear that it was his biggest slip-up yet.

Evidently, she took that as a declaration of war, and if the predatory smirk she had were any indication, he was looking at an all-out frontal assault.

And assault she did.

If this was an actual battle, he might've actually broken a sweat from defending against her relentless attacks. Any normal men would've been eating out of her hands by now.

But like a boulder in the middle of a raging storm, the young man persevered.

While it took a while, she eventually slowed her advances. And it appeared he's earned her begrudging respect in the process.

Now that the worst of the attacks were over, she simply made herself comfortable on his lap and "convinced" him to feed her favorite food: ice cream.

He was just glad that there were no other customers in his cafe.

The stuff she did at the height of their little game… Let's just say it would be better left unsaid.

 _Pinch_

"Wha-?"

He looked down, only to be greeted by a pair of glaring mismatched eyes. It appeared that she was not happy about his idle hands.

The young man sighed for the umpteenth time.

"Yes, yes, my apologies Miss Neo." He replied with a tone filled with exasperation as he resumed feeding her once more.

Now, if the young man wasn't so distracted, he would have heard the chime on the door.

If he wasn't so preoccupied, he would have noticed someone walking up to his table.

And if he wasn't so annoyed, he certainly would have noticed a jet black javelin that was currently hurtling directly towards his face.

* * *

Beacon was a pleasant surprise for Pyrrha.

She honestly expected to be swarmed by her fans and admirers the moment she stepped into the campus, but to her infinite relief, that didn't happen. Although there still were a number of admiring glances and whispers, it was nowhere close to the level of insanity that was Mistral.

It was tolerable.

However, her major concern lied finding herself a suitable partner. She didn't think she would be able to handle having a fanboy/fangirl as her partner for the remainder of her time in Beacon.

Not without snapping somewhere down the line at least.

At times like that, she really, _really_ wished Yury was five years younger. There would have been no question as to who she wanted as her partner if that were the case.

But now, she just wanted someone who would treat her like a normal classmate, rather than some _Goddess of Victory_ as so many of her fans liked to call her.

In the end, with a healthy amount of luck, she managed to find one.

Jaune Arc.

The moment she realized he wouldn't put her on a limelight to worship, she made sure to hunt him down during the initiation at any cost.

He was an interesting one.

He was kind, funny (in his own way), a bit of scaredy-cat, but can be courageous when the situation called for it. He can think quickly on his feet, and was a pretty decent strategist.

Overall, she was satisfied with her partner. Not to mention her other teammates, Ren and Nora, were also a blast to be around. However, she did feel a bit sorry for Ren. The poor boy, being led around by his energetic childhood friend like that must be really tiring.

At that moment, a certain young man almost crushed his teacup after an inexplicable feeling of irritation welled up within him.

But like any other freshly minted teams, her own went through its own teething troubles. But she never expected Jaune, her dorky yet kind friend, to be the source of the problem.

It appeared he had some sort of insecurity issues.

And the bullying certainly was not helping his case either.

Sure, he wasn't the most talented when it came to the art of combat, but he had plenty of other redeeming qualities as well.

She tried to tell him so one night when he was feeling particularly sorry for himself, but he wouldn't have any of it.

Apparently, he forged his transcript in order to earn his spot in Beacon.

While that explained her partner's lack of combative prowess, she sincerely doubted that was the only reason why he was accepted to Beacon. She's only met the headmaster a handful of times, but whenever he looked at her, it felt as if he was looking completely through her, staring into her soul, into her deepest and darkest part of her heart.

Surely a perceptive man such as he wouldn't be fooled by a transcript a 17 year old boy forged?

Yet she decided to keep her thoughts to herself for the moment. Jaune wouldn't have listened to her anyway, so she decided to let him figure things out himself.

However, things were getting only worse for her poor partner, and she was fairly certain that it was thanks to that Winchester boy.

It eventually reached the point where she just wanted to bury him alive, and blame it on the Beowolves just so she could be done with him. Damn her good morals.

In the end, she was glad that it was Jaune himself that ended his bully issues on that fateful day in the Forever Fall. While she did subtly offer a small assistance, as long as her partner regained his confidence, she would be satisfied. She didn't need the boy feeling even more inadequate after all.

At the end of all, she was certain that her team became even closer than ever.

She was content.

Until today…

After Jaune had successfully defeated his first Ursa Major in the Forever Fall, she and her team decided that celebration was in order.

They went around the Vale proper, doing random things like visiting some Dust and weapon shops, shopping malls, restaurants, generally having fun amongst friends.

And it certainly was fun.

It was a pity they had to cut it slightly short due to the sudden rain. None of them had any umbrellas at the time, so they had no choice but to leg it to the Bullhead station.

But on the way there, Pyrrha saw something that made her stop dead on her tracks. She vaguely noticed her friends stopping as well to look in her direction in confusion, but none of it matter to her right now.

Across the street, in the corner, was a small cafe. On it was a sign with a font and color she was intimately familiar. Its name made her heart flutter, made her breath hitch, made her tremble ever so slightly.

 _Silence is Golden_

She ran to it as quickly as her feet will take her.

Every step she took, her heart beat faster. Every step she took, filled her with the sensation of anxiety, and hope.

She was scared of being wrong. She missed him so much, it would absolutely crush her if it turned out she was mistaken. She had to continuously tell herself to keep her heart neutral, but a small part of her hoped beyond hope that he would be there.

When she finally made it inside, she was immediately struck with a sense of nostalgia and déjà vu.

As soon as she opened the door, she was greeted with the same soothing melody of a piano not unlike the time when she first met him. And to make it even more similar to her first meeting with the young man, the cafe was empty.

Her heart was beating painfully fast at this point.

Her sense of hope was rising by the second.

Carefully, yet determinedly, she made her way deeper into the cafe.

Yury. When she first recognized him, it took everything she had to not rush up to him.

He was here… in Vale.

Myriad of emotions and questions went through her mind. From happiness, to indignation, she felt them all.

Yet the prevailing one was… why didn't he tell her?

A slight pain pierced through her chest.

Then, she saw her.

This… _skank_ , was sitting on Yury's lap like he belonged to her! And the moment their eyes met, she had the gall to give her the most infuriating smirk whilst enjoying the ice cream that was being fed to her.

Pyrrha started shaking.

Yury was _her_ friend. He was _hers_. He belonged to _her_. YURY LLOYD ONLY BELONGED TO _PYRRHA NIKOS_!

Pure, white hot rage filled her entire being.

However in contrast to the intensity of her wrath, her eyes became cold enough to freeze even the deepest pits of hell over.

It almost became lifeless.

With strength she didn't know she had, she hurled her javelin (that was already clad in haki) at the disgusting sight.

* * *

"What the-"

Yury barely had seconds to dodge whatever was blitzing towards his face.

Both Neo and Yury nearly exploded out of their respective seats in order get out of the way.

On his peripheral, he vaguely noticed Neo giving him a _very_ amused look. He supposed she wasn't expecting him to be so quick.

But at the moment, that was the least of his problem.

There she stood, Pyrrha Nikos in all her sinister glory. Her usually soft crimson locks were now dripping wet with rain from outside, her normally compassionate emerald orbs were now cold enough to freeze him thousand times over. Her aura was fluctuating as if it was about to blow up any moment.

He would forever deny that he was slightly intimidated.

From the way she was eyeing that Neo girl and him with her smoldering gaze, it looked like the princess has once again jumped to whatever conclusion she made up in her head.

"It's not what it looks like." He tried to reason.

She didn't say anything, but it was good enough for him. At least she was willing to hear him out.

' _Baby steps.'_ he reminded himself.

"I was working."

He silently cursed as he once again dodged her javelin that was moments away from piercing his back.

' _Damn her overpowered semblance.'_ He winced.

With her weapon back in her hands, she once more stared at him with those hauntingly cold eyes.

He needed reinforcements.

But to his infinite dismay, his only partner in crime was nowhere to be seen.

' _She bailed on me!'_ He silently cried out.

And as fate would have it, a napkin slowly descended from the ceiling. He didn't know where it came from, but it eventually landed neatly right between them.

Once he saw its contents, he paled slightly.

 _Call me! 125-347-6749_

It was completed with a velvet lipstick mark.

Said napkin did not last long before it was burned to cinders by the princess' Dust bullet. And soon, Yury too found himself staring at the business end of her rifle.

He silently pinched the bridge of his nose in order to stave off the incoming migraine.

"Can't we talk about this?"

* * *

Jaune didn't know what to think.

When Pyrrha suddenly stopped in the middle of the rain, he (along with his teammates) was confused. When she suddenly bolted to a small cafe across the street without saying a word, he was _really_ confused.

Pyrrha was one of the nicest and gentlest person he knew, so when he saw her starting to open fire in the middle of an empty cafe, he _seriously_ didn't know what to make of the situation.

His partner was now locked in one of the most intense combat he's ever witnessed with a man he's never seen before. And whatever the man had done, Pyrrha was most definitely _not_ happy about it.

' _Maybe he's a criminal?'_ He initially thought. But once he listened to the one-sided conversation that they were having, he soon dismissed the thought.

"Damn it kid! Let me explain!" The man barely dodged a slash that would have decapitated him otherwise. And why were her hands and weapons black?

Her jet black shield completely decimated an entire row of tables and chairs in an effort to hit the nimble man. "Oh, come on! I just got those!" He cried out in outrage.

"Don't make me call your mother Pyrrha!" The man threatened as he once again dodged a shield bash that obliterated an entire wall of the cafe by a hair's breadth.

Pyrrha was silent during the entirety of the "conversation".

' _So they know each other.'_ Though that made Jaune relax slightly, he was no less confused as to how the young man managed to make his partner this angry.

Jaune was slightly startled when the man's head suddenly snapped towards his direction. He was confused when he just disappeared, and he nearly screamed when he felt two very strong hands grabbing his shoulder from behind.

"Would you calm down for minute brat!" The madman who somehow teleported behind him said in a panic ridden voice.

But before he could even process what the hell was going on, he came face to face with the smiling form of his partner.

Pyrrha's smiles have always cheered him up, they were alway full of warmth and support. But the smile she currently had… it was haunting.

"Jaune…" She literally purred out her words. "Would you mind stepping aside for a bit so I can talk to Yury?" Her voice was repulsively sweet.

He wanted to comply.

He really did.

But the vice-grip on his shoulder from the man behind him prevented him from doing so.

"Jaune?" She called out to him like a Siren as her smile got even wider.

"U-um…" He tried looking for Ren and Nora for aid, but they were currently taking refuge behind the debris of tables and chairs, in order to proctect themselves from the wrath of the Goddess.

' _Traitors!'_ He inwardly cried.

"Now, now, don't scare the poor kid, but talk to me princess." Now named Yury interrupted before Jaune's poor mind crack under the pressure.

"Oh?" Her tone was chipped, and was as cold as ice. "What's there to talk about? All I was doing was punishing a perverted waiter that was sexually harassing a little girl."

' _Maybe he is a criminal.'_ Jaune was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable being held by the man behind him.

An exasperated sigh came from behind him.

"Please don't describe me as _'that'_ kind of person." The man deadpanned. "And I was forced!"

The look on Pyrrha's face said that she was not convinced.

"I was!" The man sounded almost childish at that.

But to Jaune's infinite surprise, it was apparently enough to finally appease the Goddess.

With a long resigned sigh, she sheathed her weapons back before crossing her arms. She gave the man a heated glare.

"I want _full_ explanation." She said (read, ordered).

Jaune heard the man hiding behind him chuckle before he finally let him go. He also noticed Ren and Nora coming out from their makeshift bunker from his peripherals.

He still felt somewhat betrayed by them.

"Of course, my lady." There was no mistake in the teasing tone the man had towards the end.

Pyrrha merely rolled her eyes at that.

"Kid."

It took a bit for Jaune to process that the man was actually talking to him.

"Y-yes?"

"Are you guys her teammates?" the man asked as he gestured towards Pyrrha.

Jaune looked behind and saw that rest of his team were now standing behind him.

"Y-yea?"

"Good. Can you drive?"

Jaune had to wonder where he was going with this.

"Um, no?"

The man next to his partner suddenly tossed him what looked like a car key.

"Well, it's a perfect time to learn then." He said before picking up Pyrrha in a bridal carry, while completely ignoring her flustered look. "The address is on the keycard."

Just as he was about to exit the cafe, he turned around, looking as if he just remembered something important.

"The car's a two-seater, so one of you will have to share a seat. I'll see you there." He finished with a small smirk, before disappearing into the now crimson skies.

For what felt like an hour, all three of them were lost for words as all of them tried to make sense of what just happened, in the middle of a trashed cafe.

In the end, it was Nora who recovered first.

"Do you think they are 'Together-Together'?"

* * *

 **AN** : It took a while, but I finally finished it. I hope you guys liked yandere Pyrrha as much as I do! Don't be afraid to ask me any questions if you have any!

* * *

 **Omake**

Roman Torchwick was not a happy camper nowadays.

Ever since that Cinder bitch and her pets showed up in his town, everything he's worked so hard for has been turning into a hot steaming pile of dog shit.

Everything from the pointless Dust robberies from working with filthy animals just made him angrier and angrier.

But what bothered him the most was that there was nothing he could do about it.

He sighed deeply before he inhaled deep enough to finish his cigar in one go.

' _If only there were someone willing to off that whore…'_

His musing were cut off short, however, when he heard the distinctive sound of glass breaking next to him.

He groaned.

"Neo, where the hell hav-"

Words got caught in his throat when he looked up to see her.

She had that smirk that quite frankly, sometimes scared even him. But he hasn't been with the girl for all those years for nothing, as he quickly regained his composure.

"Well, someone's in a good mood today." He led her on.

She smiled, before holding up her scroll for him to see.

[New Toy]

Roman couldn't help but pity the poor sod that was foolish enough to catch her attention.


	9. Chapter 9 - New Faces

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 9 - New Faces

* * *

Yury always thought that sunsets were beautiful. There was grace in its ephemeral nature as it slowly vanished over the horizon. The nature's splendors were among the very few things he truly appreciated on this wicked world. Simply watching them... appreciating them, was enough to soothe his mind.

It helped him think, helped him be at peace within himself.

Pity he couldn't afford the luxury of admiring its beauty at the moment.

"So… How's school?"

"..."

"Made any new friends?"

"..."

"Have you been working out? You look like you've lost a few pounds."

"..."

A small, frustrated groan escaped him. The kid's been giving him the silent treatment throughout the entirety of their (air)walk back to his place.

Perhaps a change of tactics were in order.

"Are there any sexy teachers in your school? If so, I wouldn't mind tagging along for the parent-teacher meeting thing." He finished with his signature lazy grin.

Now _that_ got a reaction out of her.

Unfortunately, it was of the nonverbal kind.

"Wha-"

A short question, what would happen when you hold a magnet over a metal?

Now, replace the magnet part with the princess in the young man's arms and metal with the countless cars and buildings below them.

Just as Yury was about to take another "step", the young man felt as though Pyrrha suddenly gained a few tons in weight. His **Geppou** at that moment was only powerful enough to keep both princess and himself in the air, in other words, it was not powerful enough to support an entire SUV's worth of weight.

Naturally, he "stumbled".

The young man "stumbled" down a few hundred feet vertically before he managed to recover.

"Damn it kid, take a joke!" He gave her a slight glare as he once more hopped back to his previous altitude.

The willful princess gave him a glare of her own, before she looked away once more with a _'humph!'_

An exasperated sigh escaped him.

He was a victim too damn it!

Not only did he basically get sexually assaulted by a girl half his size, he had his cafe trashed as well from the fallout of it. But furthermore, he now had to deal with a temperamental teenage bundle of emotions!

' _My day started off so well too…'_

The Young man's silent lamenting was cut short however, when he saw the familiar glass penthouse on top of the tallest hotel in Vale.

"There's a bathroom up in one of the rooms upstairs." He said as he gently landed on its terrace. If the young Nikos was surprised by his new home, she certainly did not show it.

"Take a shower before you catch a cold." The young man gave her a brief once over. "You look like a drowned rat."

But when he made the motion to let her down, he felt her pinching his arm.

Hard.

When he looked down with a groan to see what was wrong _now_ , only thing that greeted him were the two glaring orbs of emerald. Yet beyond her seemingly furious eyes, he could tell she was just pouting.

Well, he supposed it was a _very_ enthusiastic pouting.

Yury couldn't help but roll his eyes at that, though a small grin did tug at the corner of his lips.

A quiet, almost silent chuckle rang throughout the terrace.

"Geez, milady is being so willful today…" He drawled before he continued to carry the princess in his arms as he made his way into the house. Only after reaching the bathroom door in his room did the young Nikos finally let him go, but not before giving him one last glare as she slammed the door at his face.

Yury simply snorted in amusement.

Although her tantrums were annoying at times, they certainly were rather amusing to watch.

It was like watching a small kitten hissing at you.

They were both adorable and incredibly amusing at the same time.

With one final chuckle, he made his way to the kitchen in order to prepare the brat's favorite teas and cakes.

But just as the kettle was about to boil, he heard a set of rings that he recognized as his penthouse's intercom. At this point, Yury was slightly confused. It wasn't often that he got calls from downstairs.

"Lloyd speaking." He answered nonetheless.

"Good evening, Mr. Lloyd. I'm sorry to bother you, but are you expecting any guests tonight?"

At that, Yury slightly furrowed his brows in thought.

"Guests?" The young man repeated.

"Well… it's just that I have a group of youngsters here claiming that they were invited by you to visit."

' _Ah… almost forgot about them.'_ The young man finally recalled.

"You can send them up, they're my guests."

"Of course, sir." He heard the staff say, but just as he was about to hang up, he remembered a rather pressing issue.

"One more thing… do you have any spare clothes you can send?"

The staff hummed in thought, but it didn't take long for him to answer.

"Will bathrobes suffice?" The man inquired.

"That'll do. Can you prepare four sets?"

"Certainly, sir. Do you require anything else?"

It was Yury's turn to hum in thought now.

"Can you also send someone to pick up some laundries? Priority orders, I need them finished as quickly as possible."

"No problem, I'll send someone up as soon as I can." The man assured him. "Will that be all, Mr. Lloyd?"

Satisfied, the young man confirmed the staff's question before bidding him farewell.

He only had to wait a few minutes before he heard the soft ding of his private elevator, indicating the arrival of his guests.

Yury had to hold in a snort when he saw the state they were in.

The blond was doing an imitation of a goldfish from the moment he exited the elevator, while the orange one had the strangest expression of both satisfaction and disappointment as she occasionally sneaked a glance at the green one. Said kid on the other hand, he looked like he's just gotten into a fight with an Ursa while he was drunk. His clothes were crumpled up, and his already wet long locks of hair were in shambles. Even his eyes were dull and lifeless.

Whatever happened in his car, he did not wanted to know.

' _Though I do have a pretty decent idea…'_ He mused as he subtly observed the orange girl and the green kid.

' _Poor guy…'_ He sympathized.

He really did.

"T-The car… so fast… hotel… so big…" The blond tried to stutter out, but Yury cut him off by holding up his hand.

"Shower. Bathroom. Two down the corridor, one upstairs. Now." He grunted out to them.

But just as the green kid was about to trudge past him, Yury gently clasped his hand on the kid's shoulder. When the said kid looked up, the young man mustered up his most sympathetic expression he could manage as if to say, _'Hang in there.'_

The kid's eyes widened slightly, a very noticeable action on his rather emotionless face.

At that moment, both males felt something they haven't felt in years.

Camaraderie.

The young man felt as if he's just found his long-lost brother.

* * *

"I'm telling you Renny, he's gotta be some kind of super spy!"

' _Well, she's not that far off…'_ The young man amusedly commented in his mind.

While he was in his kitchen, preparing snacks and refreshments for his guests, the said guests, all warm and cozy after their shower, were having "hushed" conversations amongst themselves in the living room after they've freshened up in the shower. Wild speculations ranging from him being Pyrrha's super rich fiancé, to him being a super spy from Mistral were prevalent in their talks.

It was entertaining to listen in, to say the least.

"Come on Nora, I'm sure he's just an old acquaintance from Mistral who met Pyrrha while he was there." 'Renny' tried to reason.

' _Not wrong either.'_

"But the car! The hotel! There's no other way to explain it!" The girl remained unconvinced, as she indignantly crossed her arms.

"Super spies aren't the only ones with fancy cars and homes you know…" The blond boy (John… was it?) chimed in as well.

The girl "looked" (as far as his haki could tell) rather frustrated as she grumbled some unintelligent words to herself before turning away in a huff.

' _Well aren't they a lively bunch?'_ The former assassin mused as he soundlessly approached them from the shadows with his tray of drinks and snacks.

A small test, if you would.

So far, only 'Rennie' managed to notice his approach.

' _Well… that's good enough for now, I suppose.'_ They were only in their first year after all, he shouldn't be too hard on them. Having at least one more person with decent spatial awareness would suffice for them to not get caught off-guard during their missions.

Grimm were hardly subtle, and he highly doubted fresh recruits like them would be allowed to go after anything more than petty criminals.

"I believe we haven't been formally introduced yet." With a shrug, he casually commented as he revealed himself, startling the other two unsuspecting guests in the process.

As he set up the snacks and cups with practiced ease, he continued to converse with them. "Yury Lloyd, pleased to make acquaintance with you… what would you like for a drink?"

The orange girl was rather eager to answer.

"I'm Nora! And coffee for me please!" She finished a bit too eagerly.

But before the young man could comply, another voice interrupted him.

It was probably his imagination that it sounded slightly ridden with panic.

"Orange juice! ...would do for her." The kid took a breath to compose himself. "My name is Lie Ren, pleasure is all mine. Green tea would do for me, thank you." He finished with a small smile, completely ignoring Nora's baleful glare.

"Anything will do for me…" The blond meekly replied before he hurriedly added, "My name's Jaune, by the way…"

After serving his young guests their drink of choice (except for one), Yury poured himself a cup of Black Earl before taking a seat himself on the sofa.

He wordlessly regarded them as he sipped his fantastically brewed tea.

The atmosphere became inexplicably tense as the silence dragged on.

Eventually, the oldest of them broke the silence.

"So… you guys are her teammates huh?" It wasn't really a question, but they nodded nonetheless.

Blon-no, Jaune spoke up this time, though for some reason he looked rather nervous.

"W-we are team JNPR by the way, one of the first year teams along with team RWBY and CRDL."

Yury slightly rose his brows at that.

Only three teams?

Unless the academy could turn every single one of them into at least a Marine HQ Captain level by the time they graduated, the entire system seemed rather inefficient to the ex-CP9 operative.

But he supposed they wouldn't be hailed as one of the best huntsmen academy in the world by having a defective system.

With a mental shrug he digressed.

"So…" the young man drawled before his eyes developed a very subtle glint. "How's being on the same team with the princ- Pyrrha?" He had a knowing grin the entire time.

Finally, he had others to share his pain of being forced to wake up at 4 in the morning, and having a slave driver as his shadow. With enough third party testimonies, he could _finally_ make her realize the error of her ways! Justice will be ser-

"Oh, it's great!" Jaune, unknowingly cutting off the young man's thoughts, enthusiastically answered. "I couldn't have asked for a better partner." He smiled before turning to his friends. "Right guys?"

Smiles and nods were all around as they discussed the "greatness" of having Pyrrha as part of her team.

The kids didn't seemed to notice Yury's previous grin becoming noticeably stiffer, and the continuous twitch that was developing in his eyebrows.

"So you mean to tell me…" The oldest of them calmly interrupted. "That she doesn't make you wake up at ludicrous hours, nor does she drag you around like a slave?"

His tone progressively became flat and emotionless, and his steel grey eyes dull and lifeless.

Jaune, wondering if he's said something wrong, meekly replied. "Um… she doesn't?"

"..." For what felt like an hour, Yury just sat on his sofa with one of those thousand yard stares. Eventually, ignoring the worried looks the kids exchanged amongst themselves, he quietly excused himself.

But he wasn't gone for long, and he brought something else with him.

A fancy glass bottle with dark brown liquid and a small shot glass were in his hands.

Wordlessly, the young man poured himself a shot before downing it in a single gulp.

He repeated the process for about 5 minutes, completely ignoring his guests' uncomfortable stares.

Nora, trying to get rid of the heavy, depressing atmosphere in the air, asked the young man something that's been bothering her for a while.

"Where's Pyrrha anyway?" At that the rest of her teammates looked at him, curious themselves.

After gulping down his nth shot, the young man answered her in a tired voice. "In my room, probably brooding while having her own teas and snacks." He finished as he picked up his bottle, and watched the liquor slosh around after gently shaking it.

"Um… why?" It was Jaune asking this time, his tone slightly weary.

If the ex-assassin noticed his tone, he didn't show it as he simply answered the question. "She wants to talk, privately."

All he got in return was a look that said, _'Well what are you doing here then?'_

After a heavy sigh, Yury explained. "I'm putting it off for as long as I can, if you couldn't tell."

That only seemed to confuse the blond more, but just as his obliviousness was starting to annoy the young man, a breath of fresh air came to his aid.

"Jaune, let him rest a bit" Ren calmly interjected before stealing a short glance at the oldest of them. His magenta eyes shined with sympathy. "It looks like he could use some."

Maybe Yury should start calling him 'Renny' too.

The guy was a true saint.

With swiftness he didn't display before, he took out a small piece of paper from his wallet.

It was a small black card, finished with fancy golden edges and stylized letters.

In short, looked like a business card.

And before any of the kids could realize, he was standing next to Ren, handing him the card with perhaps the most sincere smile he's ever worn in his albeit short life of 22 years.

"Don't hesitate to visit when you feel like you need to vent, or in need of a break."

While the other teens were confused at the older man's action, once Ren saw his gift, he looked back up as he wordlessly accepted the unassuming card.

Camaraderie, once again, all but rolled off of them. There even seemed to be sparkles around the two.

However the moment was ruined when Yury's scroll began to ring, inciting a muted grimace from the young man.

He supposed he couldn't put it off any longer.

"Well, as nice of a talk this was, the Princess demands my presence." The young man tiredly said as made his way to where his little menace was waiting. It looked like the playtime was over.

But he did give them one last glance over the shoulder before he was about to round the corner. "You guys can do whatever you'd like as long as it doesn't result in getting this place burned down."

With his last piece said, he vanished from their view as he prepared his heart to bear the full brunt of the brat's wrath.

* * *

"So what did he give you?" Nora asked as she watched the eccentric man disappear around the corner.

"Just his business card." Ren casually replied.

When Nora just _'hummed'_ absentmindedly, he silently released a sigh of relief as he once more glanced down at the black card.

 _Free pass to my cafe, Silence is Golden. Everything is free._

 _Signed, Lloyd. Valid Thru: Forever_

This could be his new sanctuary away from Nora, where he could share his troubles and pains with a fellow kindred spirit.

He could not let Nora know about this. There was no doubt she will all but demand him to take her with him the moment she catches a wind of this.

Don't get him wrong, he still cared deeply about her… more than anything else in this world.

But even he needed some downtime every once in a blue moon.

* * *

Taking a warm, relaxing bath certainly calm her down. It's been too long since her last one, and if there was one thing she had to complain about Beacon, it would be the fact you could only take showers in your dorm room.

No bathtubs for bath.

It has been too long indeed.

But as much as the young Nikos wanted to stay in the bath forever, she knew there were more pressing matter.

A heavy frown marred her previously satisfied face.

Just thinking about the incident few hours ago was enough to sour her good mood.

The dreadful sensation that pooled in her stomach, the pure rage that completely consumed her heart, the simple desire to inflict pain to those involved… the feeling was unbearable.

Her instincts quickly took over from then on. All semblance of reason, thought, and hesitation vanished, and only thing that she saw was… _him_.

 _Yury, her most precious person in the world._

In any other circumstances, just the mere thought of him would be enough to calm her down when nervous, and to make her smile even in her lowest.

 _He only belonged to her._

But when she saw him… with _her_ , she felt sick. The sight was so wrong, so painful, she couldn't stand looking at it even a second more.

 _That should have been her with him._

An annoyed sigh escaped her delicate lips as she got out of her bath.

' _It's all his fault!'_ She whined in her heart. _'Why does he have to be so nice to other girls!? Can't he see that they are all wolves in sheep's clothing?'_ The young champion cried out in her heart, conveniently forgetting who her most precious person was prior to meeting her.

When she got out the bathroom, she was momentarily confused as she couldn't find her clothes where she left it.

But her eyes shined with realization when she spotted a bathrobe in its place. After all, it wasn't the first time he's done something like this when she was taking a bath.

When she exited the bathroom, a sweet fragrance of her favorite tea immediately caught her attention. To left of where she stood, laid a table overlooking the beautiful night view of downtown Vale. On it were a cup of her favorite tea, along with assortment of her favorite cakes and snacks next to it.

She also saw a small note lying inconspicuously next to the teapot.

When she read it, her eyes softened ever so slightly.

 _I'll be with you after I get your friends something to eat and drink while we talk. Until then, enjoy._

 _Signed, Yury._

' _He's really too nice…'_ The young Nikos absentmindedly thought as she took her seat.

She patiently waited as she quietly enjoyed her teas and snacks.

She waited.

And waited.

…And waited.

Her slightly improved mood once again plummeted to rock bottom as she glared at the door.

Without wasting a single extra second, she picked up her scroll.

* * *

After taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

There she was, Pyrrha Nikos, in all her glory.

For now, he ignored the heated glare that she was sending him as he focused on her form.

Not much changed since he last saw her, but that was to be expected. It's only been about a month or two, after all.

But still, he idly wondered how much her fanboys would pay to see what he was seeing right now.

She had her hair down from her usual ponytail, giving her a slightly more mature look. The bathrobe hugged her body snugly, while leaving just enough for your imagination to fill in the gaps. She had her arms and legs crossed, which further accentuated her assets and showed off her beautifully toned and silky legs for him to appreciate. Her expression was a complex mixture that of anger with a touch of longing.

At the moment, she looked like the very definition of a modern, sophisticated beauty.

Yury silently gave her his seal of approval as he calmly made his way over.

' _But I should probably do something about this heavy atmosphere.'_ He mused as he steadily neared the princess.

"You know…" He lazily drawled as he joined her on the table. "You're going to get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that." He finished as he flashed her his signature grin.

A sharp pain to his leg told him that she was not amused, while her expression all but screamed, _'Now explain!'_

With one last resigned sigh, he did.

Everything from how he decided to relocate, to his deal with the Atlesian General, he told her everything. And while some of the information he shared with her could be considered "classified", the young man knew she wasn't the type to gossip. Plus, she did ask for full disclosure.

Throughout the retelling of his past few months, the young champion simply listened on as she sat across from him. But there was no doubt in the young man's mind that she was meticulously going over every bit of information, checking for any inconsistencies and flaws in story.

Her intensely focused eyes said it all.

"... And here we all are. Any questions?"

After a bit of thought, she glanced up from her cup, emerald green looking directly into his steel grey.

"So you are staying?" She asked, her voice calm and measured.

But the young man did not miss the carefully concealed hope that was hidden behind her eyes.

' _Of all the things she could have asked…'_ He thought amusedly.

"Yes, princess." He answered as he took a sip of his own tea. "Until I get bored, I'm here to stay."

He courteously ignored the slight twitch that was developing on her lips, and the pure delight that was present within her eyes were even enough to make him smile ever so faintly.

' _Really… what a kid.'_ He amusedly thought before he turned his head slightly to regard the downtown Vale as its artificial lights sparkled like countless diamonds before him.

The young man couldn't relax for long unfortunately, as he felt something being held out next to him.

A hand.

Her hand, to be more specific.

For a moment, he was genuinely puzzled. After repeatedly looking at her and her outstretched appendage, he eventually settled for looking at her once more but not before tilting his head to the side slightly to express his confusion.

"... If you're asking for an allowance, I only use cards nowadays."

At that she merely smirked.

A sense of foreboding once more filled the young man's heart.

Whenever she had that look, it never ended well for him.

"Key." She simply said.

"Key?" He parroted before his eyes widened in realization.

"Don't you have dorms in Beacon?" He slowly removed himself from his seat, his eyes subtly darting around for possible escape routes. "Why would you need a key to my boring old home… again?"

She too got up from her seat, and like a predator stalking its prey, she proceeded to slowly make her way towards him.

Her expression was playful, but Yury would argue that "devious" would be the more accurate word.

"Because I want it."

"Don't give me that again!" He indignantly cried out as he briskly back peddled away from her.

It didn't take long before she pounced after him.

Really, she hasn't matured a single bit since he first met her.

* * *

A rather large yawn escaped his lips as he lazily mopped up his cafe.

"I thought they were never going to leave." It has already been two days since his "exciting" encounter with the kids. Apparently, there were no curfews during the weekends.

They were only too happy to stay over until it was Sunday morning.

A muted groan escaped him. _'And she just had to take the key too.'_ And wasn't THAT an exciting night?

' _Hopefully they won't make a habit of coming over.'_ But somehow he doubted that would be the case.

' _In any case…'_ He looked around his cafe. _'Those guys sure work fast.'_

Pristine.

His previously trashed-to-hell cafe looked like it only just opened yesterday.

It was only yesterday when he called those "Janitors" over from Atlas (sponsored by his dear General of course), and yet, they've already finished their job. Sure, their main expertise lied in cleaning up after blood and gore, but still, they've done a superb job.

Perhaps he should cut the guy some slack and start looking into the things he's asked of him?

The soft ring of the chime on the door ended his musings as he lazily glanced towards the door.

There stood two customers.

A girl and a boy.

The girl had a very clear theme: black and gothic. Regardless, Yury thought she pulled it off rather well. She exuded an air of mystery and elegance that he's only seen it on a select few individuals. However, judging from her slight frown and her body language that practically screamed _fatigue_ , it would be an understatement that she looked a bit stressed.

On the other hand, the guy was clearly a Faunus, as evidenced by his golden tail lazily swishing back and forth behind him. Ignoring his rather… liberating choice of attire, everything from his body language to his casual expression told him of his easy-going nature.

' _A break up?'_ He idly wondered as he approached them.

It's happened before in his cafe and even a cursory glance was enough to tell, their personality was pretty much the definition of "incompatible".

"Welcome to my humble cafe." He greeted the duo with a welcoming smile.

The young man really hoped that they wouldn't make a scene.

He just got this place cleaned.

* * *

 **AN:** Sorry this one took a bit longer to update, a lot of stuff's been going on and I couldn't write as often as I wished :P In any case, don't be afraid to ask me any questions if you have any and have a good one!


	10. Chapter 10 - Deal

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 10 - Deal

* * *

"So you are sure you don't know where they went?" A slightly dejected voice asked.

Yury had to swallow a sigh that was about to escape. The girl was persistent.

"I'm afraid not, I don't make a habit of eavesdropping on my customers." Nonetheless, he replied with a sad smile.

Dejected, her shoulders dropped slightly at that.

"Well…" She still gave him a small resigned smile. "Thank you anyways."

When she finally left his cafe, he let his face twist into a slight grimace. He thought she was never going to leave.

Apparently, _Romeo_ and _Juliet_ that visited his cafe earlier had eloped from their friends, and Miss Blondie was out on the hunt for them.

His long-repressed sigh finally escaped him.

The young man _really_ didn't want to get dragged into any more teenage melodramas, he already had enough on his plate as is.

With a final sigh, he took a glance at the clock.

It was little over four in the afternoon.

After a bit of thought, the young man decided to close a bit early today. Knowing his recent luck, the chance of something even more troublesome coming knocking on his doors later was probably rather high. Besides, it was Sunday, he closed in a few hours anyway.

He was retired too, and he wasn't too keen on tempting fate as much as when he was still on active duty.

' _Perhaps I should give the forest another visit?'_ He idly thought as he absentmindedly walked to his car after locking up his cafe. _'It's been quite some time since I had a good workout.'_

But alas, just as he was about to reach for the door, a voice called out to him from behind.

"Yury?"

It was a voice he recognized.

"What a pleasant surprise!"

Already, he could feel the telltale signs of an incoming migraine.

"You know him?"

' _!_ ' There was someone else, a voice he did not recognize.

Hope blazed within the young man's heart.

Indeed, there is no such thing as absolute certainty, and if there were even a one in a billionth of a chance of him being wrong… and of her simply mistaking him for some other guy named Yury…

' _... God, I'm getting desperate.'_ He really was.

His past few days has been nothing but a headache. Sure, he did get some minor amusements out of babysitting a team of teenagers and watching them embarrass themselves, but he could only get so much enjoyment before it becomes a chore.

He seriously needed to catch a break and have some quality time by himself lest he… well, lest he does something he might (or might not) regret.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips. _'Well, like a Band-Aid I suppose…'_

* * *

The past few days has been somewhat of a downer for Ruby Rose. Just when she thought she and her team was starting to _truly_ become a team…

Her shoulder drooped slightly as she thought about her friend.

Sure, Blake was a big girl, and was an huntress in training on top of that. She understood that Blake could take care of herself.

But still, the young girl couldn't help but worry for her friend.

And speaking of friend…

"So, Blake is your friend?"

Penny Polendina.

The young scythe wielder honestly didn't know what to make of her latest "friend". But even still, the young girl wasn't sure if the eccentric orange-haired girl could be considered one. She was nice, even more awkward than herself if that was even possible, but she definitely was a nice girl.

And here she was, despite knowing almost next to nothing about her, explaining what was going on with her team and what she was doing until she ran into her.

It was all a bit jarring for the little redhead if she was honest.

"Yury?"

A sudden question from Penny brought the little redhead out of her musing, causing her to halt. When she turned to her latest friend to see what was going on, she noticed that her gaze was locked onto what seemed like a back of a man wearing a casual suit.

He was really tall.

"You know him?" The young Rose couldn't help but ask. (Also, she could've sworn the man stiffened ever so slightly when she asked that question. How strange…)

But before Penny could answer her, the man in question swiftly turned to face them. Instantly, his eyes locked onto her latest eccentric friend who was waving enthusiastically at him.

It was probably her imagination that the light in his eyes faded ever so slightly the moment he saw Penny.

In any case, the young Rose figured she should probably greet him as well.

"Um…"

But just as she was about to do so, the young man in front of her abruptly held out his hand to stop her. Without saying another word, he quietly moved away from them to call someone (judging from the way he was furiously typing something on his scroll).

"Um… Penny?" After a few seconds of silence, Ruby called out to the girl besides her as they both watched the strange young man few yards away.

"Yes, Ruby?" The ever-enthusiastic girl answered.

"Are you sure you are friends with him?" She whispered to her as she pointed towards him.

"Why yes! Yury was my very first friend after all!" The taller girl answered with a blinding smile.

"I-I see…" The young Rose managed to smile back, albeit weakly.

With the conversation seemingly dying out like that, Ruby settled for just watching the now named Yury who was only a few yards away from them.

' _Hmm?'_ But now that she had the chance to really look at him, she couldn't help but have the strangest sense of familiarity whenever she looked at him. Ruby was certain that she's never seen the man named Yury before, but whenever she looked closely at him, she never felt the usual sensation of averseness that she felt towards strangers.

For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

Weird…

And speaking of weird,

"What do you mean he's busy!?"

It appeared the call finally connected, judging from how he was whisper-shouting to whoever was on the other side of the scroll.

Now, Ruby knew eavesdropping was a tasteless hobby, but coupled with his strange familiarity and her ever-curious nature… the temptation was too strong.

' _I just want to learn more about Penny's friend. Yea, nothing more.'_ She reasoned as she strained her ear to hear more.

"Meeting? What meeting?"

' _I wonder who he's calling…'_ The young Rose wondered.

"Listen lady, I-... yes it's about her."

' _Her? I wonder if they're talking about Penny.'_ The young girl spared a glance towards her eccentric yet unassuming girl next to her (who was still smiling at him by the way) before a sound of explosive sigh drew her attention.

"... Why in the name of everything that is holy would _I_ need a babysitter?"

' _Babysitter? Penny?'_ The simple thought was enough to incite a snort from the redhead.

"No results? Ever heard of prep time lady?" Now he was massaging his temples as if he was having an intense headache.

That made the young girl perk up slightly. _'Results? Prep time?'_ Ruby was starting to wonder just what kind of people Penny was affiliated with.

Now that she thought about it, the conversation Yury was having with the "lady" sounded awfully suspicious without any contexts as well…

But before she could ponder any longer about it, the young man's quiet voice brought her back to reality.

"Two weeks, not a single day more. Good day." With that, he ended his call.

With a one final exasperated sigh, he turned around and silently approached them. When he was close enough, he gave the young Rose a brief once over.

"Someone you know, kid?" He casually asked Penny.

' _!'_ At that moment, Ruby's eyes widened ever so slightly. She finally understood why he felt so familiar.

He reminded the young Rose of her favorite uncle, Uncle Qrow!

The way he walked, the way he carried himself, and even the lazy atmosphere around him…

Of course, there were some minor differences but they were just that, minor differences.

But once again, she couldn't really think too deeply about it as Penny's voice drew her attention to the reality and made her focus on the young man.

"Why yes, this is Ruby, my new friend!"

Now that got a reaction out of him.

"A… friend?" He looked like he wasn't sure how to process that. Does Penny not have many friends?

"Is she from Atlas?" Perhaps she was imagining things, but he looked slightly annoyed at that. And also, Atlas?

"No, Ruby and I have only known each other for approximately 54 hours and 23 minutes."

Ruby couldn't help but raise her brows. That was oddly… precise.

"Penny…" The man's exasperated voice once more drew Ruby's attention. "Were you dragging this young lady around because you were bored again?"

For the first time since meeting her, Penny's smile was morphed into a slight frown.

It was a look of a confusion.

"Why would I drag Ruby around? That sounds awfully painful, and I would never hurt my friend." The Atlesian girl finished with a slight tilt of her head.

A heavy sigh was her only response.

"I'll take that as a yes then…" With that last piece, he turned to face the young Rose. "So, Ruby was it?"

"Y-yes, my name is Ruby Rose…" Even with him reminding her of her favorite uncle, speaking to a total stranger was still hard. And he was a guy too! The young Rose was most definitely out of her comfort zone right now.

Luckily for her, she didn't have to lead the conversation.

"Yury Lloyd, and it is my pleasure to meet you Miss Rose." He smiled at her kindly before he looked at her square in the eye. "If you'll excuse me…"

"Wha-" Whatever she was going to say, she couldn't finish as words got caught in her throat.

His steel-grey eyes were emitting a soft, gentle glow. "Would you mind answering some questions?"

* * *

The former assassin wondered if he was being too paranoid. Under normal circumstances, he would have simply dismissed this as a simple coincidence but when a top secret Atlesian military hardware in the form of Penny came waltzing in escorted by a trained personnel (yes, he noticed), it was very hard for him to ignore the alarm bells going off in his head.

Sure, Penny did say she's only met her recently, but that doesn't automatically rule out the possibility of her being sent by the General to watch over Penny and by extension, him. She could have been sent to Vale prior to Penny and staged everything as a convenient coincidence. A standard routine when escorting VIPs without them realizing. The young man himself had done it countless times before.

But that wasn't the issue.

His past few days have left him a bit… lacking in terms of his patience reservoir.

It was one thing to be "observed" (read:babysitted) by Penny, but it was whole another to be "observed" by another preteen girl.

One he could handle, but two? He had to draw the line somewhere.

"Are you from Atlas?" No reason to beat around the bush here.

"Um… No?" There were no weariness nor deceit in her voice, but genuine honesty with a touch of curiosity.

At that, the young man let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief. While it was a pain to have someone breathing down on his neck for two weeks, he supposed he should take what he could get.

But there was one thing that's been bothering him for a while.

Yury couldn't shake off the feeling that he's seen the girl from before, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out where. When he first got the feeling, he simply assumed that he's met her sometimes back in Atlas when he was first being "acquainted" with the General, but now that's proven to be a non-option, it was quite a mystery to the young man.

"Have we met before?" He figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

The mystery only deepened when she shook her head in negative.

' _Speaking of which…'_ He shot a quick glance towards Penny, who was watching the conversation with her ever-present smile.

"What were you doing with Penny anyways?"

The response came in the form of a loud gasp.

"Oh, no!"

But it didn't come from the Ruby kid.

Yury let out a exasperated sigh, before turning to the person in question.

"What is it now, kid?" He lazily drawled.

"We were looking for Ruby's faunus friend, who's gone missing since yesterday! Quick, we need to go find her!" Her enthusiasm was starting to get him. And also…

"We?" The headaches were coming back. "Don't you mean 'Ruby and I'?"

"But you are my friend, and I'm Ruby's friend, so that makes you her friend as well. And friends help each other!" It appears her logics haven't improved a bit since he's last seen her too.

"Listen kid, just because- who are you even looking for anyways?"

The answer to his inquiry once more came in a form that he was not expecting.

* _Ding!_ *

His scroll just received a message… containing a full bio of this Blake Belladonna person. _'Right, military hardware.'_ He reminded himself before he noticed something else.

' _Well, if it isn't Juliet.'_ Sometimes, he wondered if this was the Fate's way of getting back to him for being in the world he didn't belong. And if the ludicrous coincidences didn't reaffirm his suspicions, the key word next to her profile picture certainly did.

Former Executive White Fang Operative.

The entire situation was proving to be nothing more than a giant, massive hassle.

But just as Yury was about to tell Penny off for the second time, an epiphany struck him like a **Rokuougan** to the face.

' _Juliet → Former Executive Operative → Help find her → Information → Results → Happy General → Negotiation → Increased chance of Penny going home early?'_ A subdued, yet wicked smile slowly formed on his lips as he deactivated his semblance.

"Huh? Wha-?"

"You okay there? You were spacing out for a bit." The former CP9 agent asked, his voice tinged with slight concern.

"Uhh… I think?" The redhead eventually answered (though it was more of a question) after looking around for a bit to gather her bearings.

"Now, as I was saying, Penny explained everything to me and I would like to help you in your endeavors of finding your friend." The former CP9 agent finished with a friendly smile.

But before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a rather loud squeal.

"I knew I could count on you, Yury!" It wasn't long before he was enveloped by a quite literally bone crushing hug by rather ecstatic Penny.

"Yea, well don't get used to it kid." He deadpanned as he entertained the thoughts of activating his **Tekkai** , before he turned to the redhead with a smile. "Well, lead the way Miss Rose."

"Sure…"

It was probably his imagination that she had an air of resignation about her.

* * *

Surprisingly, finding Juliet didn't take as nearly as long as he thought it would. After all, it was very hard to ignore all the explosions and countless gunshots going off in the middle of the evening.

And there they were, Romeo on the ground, being held in a gun point by the Boss man he saw from few weeks ago, just as Juliet barely managed to dodge the shipping container that would have otherwise fallen on top of her head.

Understandingly, the redhead didn't take too kindly to that as she quickly drew out her weapon.

A weapon that looked rather familiar to the young man, whose eyes lit up with recognition.

' _Oh… so that's where I saw you…'_ He silently remarked.

"Hey!"

Yury had to swallow the sigh that was about to escape him. With that single word, the kid had single handedly flushed whatever element of surprise they had down the drain.

He once more had to remind himself that she was just a student at the moment.

"Oh, hello Red. Isn't it past your bedtime?" The Boss man quipped as he nonchalantly waved to her.

However, the banter between the Boss man and Red afterwards was lost to Yury as he stood next to Penny, deep in thought.

' _Since when did he use Fang members as hired muscles?'_ He wondered as he silently surveyed the docks below him.

The former assassin briefly entertained the thought of them being defectors, but he quickly dismissed it as it was highly improbable seeing as they still donned the White Fang uniforms.

But that only brought another question to the light.

Why?

As a Faunus extremist group, it was logical to assume that they wouldn't want anything to do with humans. Yet here they were, being the lapdogs for the said member of the race.

' _Blackmail?'_ It certainly was plausible that the Boss man had something in his possession that was detrimental enough for the Fangs to force them to obey whatever they were ordered to do by him.

The young man shot a quick glance at Juliet.

While he couldn't exactly see her face, her body language told him enough. Although her most forefront emotion was anger, there were subtle traces of confusion and doubt beneath it all.

It was a clear indicator of the Boss guy knowing something even the former executive member of the White Fang did not know. And for what felt like an hour, Yury's steel-grey orbs flickered between the Boss man and Juliet, before it steadily settled on the male.

' _Not only will he be more likely to have additional up-to-date information regarding the Fang, he could also- why is he pointing his cane this way?'_

 _BANG!_

The young man couldn't help but roll his eyes before he fully expanded his senses to a superhuman level.

Time slowed down for Yury as he focused.

' _Judging by the trajectory of the bullet, it wasn't aimed at me but at the Red.'_ He deduced as he calmly observed the slug that was slowly inching closer. _'I could just block it for her… but that would bring too much attention towards me.'_ Even the thought of it was enough to make his body shudder. _'Yea, no thanks. I've had enough of that…'_

The bullet was now reaching its halfway mark to its destination.

' _What to do…'_ The young man silently wondered as he watched the bullet travel closer and closer towards the unprepared redhead. After gauging her Aura levels, the young man was fairly certain that she will survive the impact, but by no means will it tickle either.

' _Decisions… decisions… To save, or to not save…'_ Just when his indecision was reaching its peak, something caught his attention in the corner of his eyes.

Her scythe.

With his decisions made, the young man simply closed his eyes.

' _Well, she did volunteered to become a huntress, and I can't baby her forever…'_ Her combat tactics were somewhat lacking, her kinetic visions could use some work, and her sense of mortality during live combat was almost non-existent… All of which could prove to be fatal during a real combat.

Pain is an excellent motivator to learn.

At least, that was how he justified it in his head. The fact that saving her would result in him getting an unbearable amount of unnecessary attention had absolutely _nothing_ to do with it.

None at all.

"Ahhhhhhh!" The resulting impact was enough to blow her away good few yards.

Yea, she was going to feel that in the morning.

"Penny wait, stop!"

' _Hmm?'_ Yury couldn't help but raise his brows in muted interest as he watched Penny walk past the redhead in a determined stride.

"Don't worry, Ruby." She reassured the kid over her shoulder. "I am combat ready!"

With that, her back opened up, revealing dozens of blades that started to hover around her in a protective manner.

' _Well, this should be interesting…'_

And interesting it was.

Evidently, the kid had complete control over her blades as she laid waste on the Fang members that tried to subdue her.

Yury was beginning to wish he had some cereals to enjoy as he watched on the "fight", if one can even call it that.

He knew that majority of the faunus that joined the White Fang were barely above a civilian in terms of combat prowess, but this was simply depressing.

Not to say it wasn't entertaining by any means.

The way the Fang members were sent flying back one after another like ragdolls by her blades were one of the most amusing things he's seen in quite some time.

It wasn't long before they had to send in multiple bullheads in order to distract her as the main group made preparations to flee. But alas, even its Gatling guns weren't enough to stop the kid completely as she simply parried the barrage of bullets with contemptuous ease.

At this point, the young man _really_ wished he had some cereals to enjoy.

Eventually, she even shot down the bullheads.

With lasers.

It was impressive enough to make a certain genius Doctor from his world to nod in approval.

But the distraction proved to be successful, as few Bullheads containing all the main perpetrators escaped without much hassle.

While others helplessly watched on with varying degrees of frustration, Yury simply observed the disappearing Bullhead with a small, yet predatory grin.

The former CP9 agent's haki had already locked on to the Boss guy's Aura signature.

There is nowhere for him to hide anymore.

His grin got even wider.

* * *

 _-In an undisclosed location-_

"Haa…"

The word "stressed" didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling at the moment. Not only was he forced to do jobs that was completely waste of _his_ time and _his_ resources, and forced to work with incompetent animals… he now had to watch his steps extra carefully after this night's failures.

As much as he hated that Cinder bitch, he wasn't an idiot.

Failing her "requests" has proven to be extremely hazardous to one's health, and he's already struck out twice.

Another heavy sigh escaped him after he's taken a deep drag of his favorite cigar, which has become his only joy lately. A joy that was rudely interrupted by a voice he did not recognize.

"Good evening."

It took everything he had to not lash out at the voice with his cane the moment he heard it.

But seeing as he hasn't been in this business for this long simply by being devilishly charming, Roman quickly regained his composure as he calmly observed the stranger sitting in front of his desk.

It was a young man in his early 20s, wearing black dress pants and shoes, dark grey dress shirts with black tie and vest. But other details were lost on him the moment his olive green orbs met his steel-grey.

Roman had strangest sense of déjà vu as he stared at the young man's eyes, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why. But after a bit of thought, he was quick to dismiss it as a simple coincidence.

He's made a lot of friends and enemies in his past to get to where he was now, and it wasn't too far-fetched to assume that he's seen him sometimes in his past.

Yet none of that explained how he was able to enter his office unnoticed, as he was facing the door. No matter how distracted he was, he most certainly would have noticed, or at the very least, heard someone enter his office. There was no way he would have been able to sneak in without him noticing, not unless Neo spiked his cigar with something… again. Assuming (and praying) she didn't, it could only mean one thing: it was highly likely that his guest was very well versed in stealth and infiltration.

He needed to approach this carefully.

"Geez kid, ever heard of knocking?" His casual tone betrayed nothing as he observed the young man's every move with critical eyes.

The young man simply smiled in return.

"Cinder Fall."

The shock of hearing that name being uttered by him was enough to freeze up the older male on the spot. It wasn't long before his carefully constructed mask of nonchalance crumbled down.

"Who are you?" His tone became deadly serious, bearing no resemblance to his usual jovial tone.

"Who I am is of no importance." The younger male's tone however, remained calm and collected. "I'm simply here to make you an offer."

Roman did not like where this was going.

"What if I told you that should you decide to cooperate, I could make her simply… go away?"

For a moment Roman sat still, carefully processing what's he's just heard. Silence descended upon his office as both men quietly observed each other. It was Roman who broke it first, only this time, his voice was tinged in an unspoken warning.

"I will ask again… Who are you?"

His only response was a wordless smile.

"Neo."

As if on cue, a sound of glass shattering rang throughout the otherwise deathly silent room. And there she stood, Neapolitan, next to the young man with her weapon drawn, ready to slit his throat at moment's notice. She silently stood by, with her ever-present mocking grin as she looked down upon him.

But his next words couldn't help but puzzle the master criminal.

"Good evening to you too, Miss Neo." Despite his dire situation, he barely acknowledged the deadly blade inches away from his throat as he nonchalantly greeted Neo as if he was asking about a weather.

Even she seemed to be amused by this fact, as evidenced by her grin widening ever so slightly.

However, her grin quickly morphed into a frown as she glanced down on her weapon. And just as he was about to comment on this, Neo suddenly pulled back her weapon.

She was rearing up for an attack.

By the time Roman realized this, the blade had already struck the young man's throat.

The former crime boss couldn't help but grimace as he closed his eyes in annoyance. He hated when she made a mess in his office.

He sighed in mild irritation as he waited for the inevitable _squirt_ of blood pouring out, and the _thump_ of the body hitting the floor.

But neither ever came.

 _CLANG!_

Puzzled, he quickly opened his eyes as was greeted by the sight of Neo staring at her broken stiletto, who seemed equally puzzled at the situation. His eyes quickly traveled back to the young man sitting in front of him.

There was not a single scratch on him, in fact, he seemed like he was amused by the whole situation.

Despite her appearance, Neo was not a weak girl. A direct attack like that, no matter how potent his Aura may be, should have at the very least been enough to break his skin.

But instead, it was her weapon that broke.

' _Semblance?'_ He tried to theorize as he silently watched on the young man and Neo before him.

Apparently, Neo wasn't satisfied with just leaving at that, as she reared up her legs for a devastating roundhouse kick aimed at the younger male's temple. Even Roman had to wince at that. Just by the sound alone, he could tell that she's put enough force to snap even a Beowolves' neck.

Yet even that wasn't enough.

"Are you okay?" The young man casually asked Neo, who was silently writhing in pain whilst clutching her bruised ankle. "You shouldn't have hit so hard." His tone was unmistakably tinged with amusement as he watched Neo shoot him a mild glare (at which he simply chuckled), before he locked Roman with a steady gaze.

"If you're quite done with the pleasantries… I would like your answer to my offer, Mr. Torchwick."

Tension once more began to fill the room.

As for Roman, despite his calm exterior, his mind was running mile a minute as he carefully weighed the pros and cons of his predicament.

On one hand, his offer of taking care of that cursed woman was godsend. Too good to be true, even. The question of his skills and competency aside, if he actually manage to pull it off, then it would quite literally be a dream come true. But on the other hand, if he failed, and worse yet, if it gets traced back to him… death would probably be the least thing he would have to worry about. Speaking of which…

"How do I know that you haven't been sent here by Cinder? To test my loyalties?" If that really was the case, she _really_ knew how to set up a trap.

For a moment, the young man seemed surprised as if he wasn't expecting such a case as he adopted a thinking pose, before he gave the crime boss a helpless shrug.

"You don't. You'll simply have to take a leap of faith for this one."

That didn't help at all!

Roman couldn't help but sigh in annoyance at his answer. Perhaps he should try a different approach…

"What do you get out of this?" If he's simply trying to use him in order to become the "next" Cinder, then-

"Silence."

Whatever answer he was expecting, that certainly was not it.

"Silence?" He parroted, at which the young man simply nodded.

"I like it when things are nice and quiet." The young man replied to the unspoken question as he reclined in his chair. "And unfortunately, Miss Fall is making far too much noise at the moment."

Roman knew exactly what the young man was talking about. And how could he not? They were his thoughts exactly. But there was one thing he couldn't figure out no matter how hard he thought about it.

"Why do you need me then?" His tone becoming a complex mixture of curiosity and weariness. "From the sound of things, it looks like you could have taken her out just fine without my, or anyone's help."

At his question, the young man simply gave him a wry smile.

"When the people of authority have nothing to focus on, corruption tends to become a thing for them" For a moment, the young man had a slightly faraway look, before he pinned Roman with an unreadable smile. "And what better distraction would there be, than the infamous Roman Torchwick?"

The Crime Lord in question couldn't help but sigh in annoyance at that. Since when did he become a chew toy for every new kids in town to use!? And besides…

"Even if I accept your offer, I don't even know that much about her evil plans of doom and whatnot." He snarked before scoffing. "She keeps her cards close."

"That won't be an issue." The young man calmly replied, before continuing. "You simply need to keep me posted on her dealings and activities."

Fatigue.

By end of it all, fatigue was the only thing Roman could feel as he mulled over his options.

Should he accept, then he would be allowed to relive his past glory days as the true top dog of the Vale underground. But it came at the cost of him most likely being leashed. Even if everything went according to the deal, there was no doubt in his mind that he would be replaced, just like Cinder was about to be, should he start to make too much "noise" as well. And there was always the risk of Cinder finding out.

On the other hand, should he refuse, then he would most likely spend the rest of his career as Cinder's lapdog, pitifully licking her boots as he jumped and rolled at her every command. But it would guarantee his safety, as he was fairly certain that she won't kill him as long as he continued to be useful. But how long will that last?

No matter what he chose, it would still be him that would be getting the short end of the stick.

Wordlessly, Roman pulled out a fresh cigar and lit it before taking a deep drag.

He missed the days when it was just him running the show, when the mere mention of his name was enough to make people cower in fear, and the simple sight of him made the authorities scramble to properly respond.

Roman closed his eyes as he breathed out heavily, as if to blow out all his fatigue and stress along with the smoke.

' _Things used to be so simple back then…'_

With the last of the smoke out of his system, he slowly opened his eyes as he regarded the young man before him. He's made his decision, and there was no going back now.

Evidently, the younger male got the message as he broke out in a triumphant smile.

"I'm glad we've reached an understanding."

* * *

 **AN:** Can't believe it's taken me this long to finish writing this chapter. For some reason, this chapter was really difficult to write and I still have no idea why. But regardless, what a journey it was. I really hope the wait was worth it for you guys.

In any case, don't be afraid to ask me any questions if you have any, and have a good one!

* * *

 **Omake**

Yury let out a slightly wistful sigh as he made his way to his home. He couldn't remember the last time he's had an underground contact, and now that he's made one, the reality regarding his retirement (or its official end of it) started to settle in on him that couldn't help but left him feeling slightly forlorn.

And speaking of his contact, what a surprise it has been.

When first he approached Roman, it was under the assumption of him being the mastermind behind the recent White Fang attacks. His plan was to uncover whatever secrets Roman's held in order to keep the terrorists in check so that he could provide some tangible form of result to the ever-stiff General. So when the young man questioned Roman who was under the influence of his semblance, it has been quite the revelation for him.

While it was true that the former Crime Lord only knew the bare bones of whatever the woman had in store for Vale, but even from what little information he's gleaned off of Roman, he could already tell this Cinder woman was troublesome.

Troublesome enough that she could potentially delay the young man in going back to his retirement.

Yea, she needed to disappear.

But for now, he's had a rather long day, and at the moment, Yury simply wanted to go take a bath and go to sleep. The urge only intensified when his home was in sight, as he quickened his pace.

However as he approached his room, noticed something rather… strange. He knew Penny was in there (as he dropped her off there himself before he headed out for Roman) but there was also someone else.

And when he finally recognized who it actually was, the young man couldn't help but groan in annoyance.

"Shouldn't you be in Atlas?" He lazily drawled as he opened his door.

"I have a business to attend to in Beacon in a few days." He said in his ever stoic tone, before it became tinged with subtle smugness towards the end. "I figured I should check up on you since I was in town."

He even broke out a small smirk when he heard the young man groan in annoyance. But it didn't last long before he once more adopted his usual serious persona as he gestured towards Penny.

"Penny has informed me that you were out 'working' when I asked her about your whereabouts... care to elaborate?"

Just was the young man was about to tell the General off, an idea formed within his mind as he remembered that he's still not gotten him back for sending Penny to babysit him.

James Ironwood was a man who had a slight neurotic tendencies when it came to national securities.

"Actually, General…"

And without a doubt, he will lose sleep for the next few days after this.

"I have such tales to tell you…"


	11. Chapter 11 - Work

I do not own/have any rights to One Piece and RWBY

My first Fanfic. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 11 - Work

* * *

 _-In a forest somewhere in Vale-_

"Now, smile! You are on camera." A voice tinged with subtle amusement softly rang throughout what appeared to be a heavily guarded caravan canopy tent.

On the contrary to the young man front of him, however, the other male facing the small device only grunted in annoyance, as if he found the whole thing troublesome and overall not worth his time.

"Just get on with it human." The disgruntled male huffed as he stared at the stranger's softly glowing eyes. "I have better things to do."

If the young man noticed his annoyance, he certainly did not show it as he kept his polite smile.

"A little birdy told me that you and your men are on a 'Joint business venture' with a certain crime lord in Vale… Is it true?" The young man calmly asked.

A deep growl escaped the man's throat the moment he heard the other male's inquiry as bloodlust (albeit faint, yet noticeable enough to give pause to those around the tent), slowly filled the room.

"Not by choice, I assure you." The man barely managed to respond as he tried to reign in his poorly concealed rage.

"Oh?" The young man urged on. "Please, do tell." His polite smile widened ever so slightly.

For a few seconds, the agitated male did not say anything. But while he certainly was not vocalizing his thoughts, his body language was saying plenty. The subtle gnashing of his teeth, his ever so slightly trembling body, the soft creaking of his weapon under the increasing pressure of his grip… the source of his thoughts most definitely were not bringing him any pleasures.

After taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm his mind, he finally answered. "This woman… She called herself Cinder Fall."

And just like that, began the terrible tale depicting clashing of ideal, will, and strength. How the woman came to him, offering him wondrous promises of power, money, and resources in exchange for him basically working for her. And of how his refusal lead to her coercing him into accepting her deal, albeit begrudgingly, after she decimated his men.

The guy was surprisingly chatty.

"Any ideas what she plans to do with you and your men asides from working with Mr. Torchwick?" The young man asked as the irate male came down from his small ranting episode.

"No." Was his clipped reply. "She believes we are too _dumb_ to understand the intricacies of her _grand_ plans." His tone was dripping with sarcasm as he snorted disdainfully. "Such arrogance… How typical of you humans."

At the jab, the young man simply shrugged indifferently as he checked for the recording time on his scroll.

' _It should be enough.'_ He reckoned

"Well," The young man began, catching the other male's attention. "I believe this should be enough, thank you for your cooperation for this interview. It must've been difficult for a busy man such as yourself."

The other male simply grunted as he gestured towards the exit. "If you're done, then leave."

With his business done, the young man silently rose from his seat. But just as he was looking over the video file on his scroll, he turned around as if he's forgotten something.

"By the way…" The young man glanced over his shoulder as his softly glowing grey eyes once more caught the other male's attention. "I never got your name."

That gave the other man a minuscule, yet noticeable pause.

"Adam Taurus." He eventually answered.

The young man simply hummed as he gave a slight nod of acknowledgment, before turning around and giving his attention to his scroll once more.

 _ **Video file - "Interview with Adam Taurus" ... Saved.**_

* * *

Beacon Academy.

Located along the cliffside at the east edge of the city of Vale, it was one of the most prestigious Huntsmen Academy in the world of Remnant. Everything from its grandiose entrance to its respectable staffs spoke of its rich history and its standings amongst other huntsmen academies. But if there was one thing that never failed to impress newcomers, it was the castle-like towers that stood tall at the center of the academy.

However, the normally quiet school ground was currently buzzing with activities and movements. A platoon of gunships soared through the skies, and a battalion of soldiers and androids patrolled around the perimeters as the titanic Atlesian airships' dominating presence loomed over the campus ground.  
In the midst of all the activity was the commander of the fleet himself, General James Ironwood.

Everything from his pristine uniform to his stoic yet professional demeanor gave him something akin to an air of authority and of leadership.

But despite looking all but immaculate, those who were close to him would have most certainly noticed that something was off. There were faint, yet noticeable bags under his eyes. His usually crisp uniform had slight creases to them. Even his normally short and clean hair had few stray strands sticking out here and there.

The man looked haggard (at least by his standards).

Even as he was walking up to the elevator that led to his good friend's office, he couldn't help but let out a soundless sigh. A lot has been on his mind as of late, especially after the little chat he's had with his latest agent a few weeks back.

The emergence of the new, yet powerful player in the name of Cinder Fall.

Someone powerful enough to control Roman Torchwick.

Someone powerful enough to control the White Fangs.

' _A coincidence?'_ He wondered as his brows formed a subtle frown.

It was only a day before he was scheduled to leave Atlas for Vale when he received Qrow's message regarding a Queen's pawn. And not a week after that came the news of the latest underground supernova that not only had one of the most infamous Crime Lords in Remnant, but also the self-proclaimed group of Faunus "Revolutionists" under her control.

The timing was too convenient.

A soft sigh escaped him as he tiredly rubbed his eyes. It sufficed to say that he's not been sleeping well as of late.

But before he could ponder any more deeply about the possible connection between the two events, a crisp _'ding'_ of the elevator bell brought him back to reality, allowing him a brief moment to recompose himself.

"Ozpin!" The General greeted the ashen-haired man as he walked out of the elevator.

"Hello, General." He greeted back, looking ever so formal just as he's always been.

"Please, drop the formalities." The General joked as he walked up to shake hands with the Beacon's Headmaster. "It's been too long." He said as a set of nostalgic chuckle escaped him.

Looking to the side, he noticed another one of his long-time friend and colleague slowly walking towards them, and the General didn't hesitate to acknowledge her as well.

"And Glynda, it has certainly been too long since we last met." The General addressed her as he added a very subtle undertone of playfulness.

"Oh, James…" She replied with equal amount of cheer.

Pity it didn't last long.

"I'll be outside." She deadpanned to the remaining occupants in the office as she moved to make herself scarce.

Internally chuckling at her byplay, the General once more addressed his host. "Well she hasn't changed a bit."

"So, what in the world has brought you all the way down from Atlas?" Ozpin asked as he prepared a cup of tea for his fellow Headmaster. "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students for the Vytal Festival."

"Well you know how much I love Vale this time of the year. Besides, with you hosting?" The General answered as he gratefully accepted the offered beverage, while not forgetting to add his own little "touch" to the drink… he could never have enough of it as of late, with so many things on his mind.

"I thought it might be a good opportunity for us to… catch up." As he stood, he could really use a break away from work, however brief it may be.

The Headmaster of Beacon nodded in agreement to the suggestion as he too poured himself a cup. "I can certainly appreciate quality time between friends. However… " His tone grew slightly wary as he met the gaze of the fellow Headmaster. "The small fleet outside of my window has me somewhat concerned."

At that, the Atlesian General couldn't help but sigh softly to himself.

' _So it's come to that, huh…'_ He thought wistfully as he gave his honest answer to his inquiry.

"Well…" _Qrow's message… Roman Torchwick… The White Fang… And Cinder Fall…_ "Concern is what brought me here." And he's already lost not insignificant amount of sleep over the said concern.

"I understand travel between Kingdoms has become increasingly difficult-"

"Oz…" Sometimes, the General couldn't help but wonder why his friend opted to play the fool so often. "You and I both know why I brought those men." He finished as his tone grew somber.

Both men knew the gravity of the situation.

Of how fragile, and superficial the current time of peace could be.

Of how powerful, and malicious were the forces that sought to shatter the said peace.

And judging by the soft sigh that escaped his lips, Ozpin knew all too well of the truth.

"We are in a time of peace, James." _'Regardless of how fragile it is'_ was left unsaid. "Shows of power like this…" He gestured towards the window before he continued. "I am afraid it's just going to give off the wrong impression."

James understood.

He really did.

If it weren't for the unseen threats looming over, he would have happily taken a personal day off at his expense to visit his friends and colleagues in private… "But if what Qrow said is true, then-"

"If what Qrow said is true, then we will handle it tactfully." The ashen-haired man interjected gently, yet firmly. "It's the Vytal Festival. A time to celebrate unity, and peace… So I suggest you to not scare people by transporting hundreds of soldiers half way across the continent."

At this point, a faint yet unmistakable feeling of frustration began to bubble within the Atlesian General. "I'm just being cautious." He sighed out.

"As am I" The Headmaster patiently replied. "Which is why we will continue to train the best Huntsmen and Huntresses we can."

"Believe me, I am" His reply was honest, and genuine. However, the thought of the Queen and her forces prompted him to halt his steps on his way out.

"But ask yourself this," He challenged his longtime friend, as he turned to fully face him once more. "Do you honestly believe your children can win a war?"

"I hope they never have to."

He hoped so too.

But just as the Atlesian General was about to step into the elevator, a soft buzzing of his scroll informing him of a mail caught his attention.

Once he saw the sender and its content, he couldn't help but sigh loudly this time.

"Ozpin?" He called out to the said man, catching his attention. "Keep an eye out for any woman named Cinder Fall." He advised as he looked at the Headmaster over his shoulder.

After a moment of pause, the ashen-haired man nodded in acknowledgement.

"Will do, old friend."

And with the final nod of farewell, the General entered the elevator. Once the door closed, he allowed himself to sigh one last time before looking over his scroll once more.

 _Sender: Y. Lloyd_

 _From your happily employed agent to the ever vigilant General~_

 _ **Video file - "Interview with Adam Taurus"**_

* * *

"- and… sent." There was a certain amount of exasperation in the former assassin's voice as he pressed the "send" button.

It has been a busy week after all.

Ever since the night at the docks (and the subsequent chat with his employer), it has been quite the melodramatic week.

In retrospect, he should have seen this coming.

While the young man certainly succeeded in his goal of contributing to the General's increasing number of grey hairs, it quickly became rather clear that it wasn't without consequence.

The number of calls coming from the General increased by 70%.

The amount of nagging increased by 50%.

His workload increased by 130%, while his free time decreased by 255%.

The amount time he had to spend tracking down a guy, who knows a guy, who knows this girl, who is an ex to this guy, who is a cousin to this girl, who is an active member of the White Fang that knows the location to their command center… it was better left unsaid.

A long repressed sigh escaped the young man. At times, Yury couldn't help but think that he himself was his worst enemy.

' _Well, what's done is done I suppose…'_ He thought as he idly observed his surroundings.

Here he stood, in the middle of the infinitely vast forest dyed in crimson. But contrary to its appearance, it was not entirely devoid of its inhabitants. The forest was a home to countless species, ranging all the way from tiny ants to the towering Grimms. Yet among the lives that resided within the forest, there was one group in particular that stood out.

The White Fangs.

Not a bad place to settle all things considered. The forest was abundant with wild games and fruits. The forest provided shelter from prying eyes and ears, being so far away from most civilizations. The forest gave the Fangs the tools and resources to become self-sustainable in case of emergencies.

' _Not a bad choice indeed.'_ The young man thought to himself as he looked over the encampment in the middle of the clearing.

Just as one would expect from a rogue organization's command post (no matter how temporary it may be), there wasn't much to look at. Asides from the typical crates full of weapons and Dusts, along with various other comms units strewn about in a way one would expect the camp site of a terrorist organization to be, there wasn't much that caught the former CP9 agent's eyes.

However, there was one thing that made him slow down his impromptu tour.

It was the members themselves.

Faunus of all kinds were gathered here, all the way from the relatively common canine types to the somewhat rare reptilian types, it was certainly a diverse gathering.

A soundless sigh escaped Yury as he idly observed them.

They were all so young.

While he certainly wasn't in any position to lecture them about "working" so young, the former CP9 agent couldn't help the small feeling of regret bubbling up within him as he watched the young men and women in their early 20s mingle about throughout the camp.

' _Why can't people just get along?'_ The young man thought as he began to make his way out of the camp.

On the way, he watched how a bear Faunus helped a struggling bird Faunus to prop up her tent.

' _What's the point of all this?'_

He studied how the grizzled old Faunus trained the fresh recruits.

' _Why do humans have to care so much about appearances and status?'_

The young man observed how they smiled and laughed as they enjoyed their meal together.

' _Why is it so difficult for them to get along with each other? So that I could take my naps in peace… So that kids could be kids… '_ _So that people like him won't have to exist…_

Just as he was about to enter the forest, the young man turned around to take a look at the clearing one last time.

"I really hope they quit this and just go home soon…" He sighed out before turning his attention once more to the small forest path.

' _...so that I won't have to kill them all when I'm ordered to.'_

Yet he knew, in the deepest depths of his mind, that none will leave.

* * *

' _My, what a beautiful sunset.'_ The young man thought distractedly as he made his way out of the scarlet forest, his mood still ever so slightly wistful.

The trek out of the forest has been uneventful besides the occasional Beowolves and Ursai, and it was relatively relaxing for the young agent.

He couldn't remember the last time he's had a leisurely walk like that, and he savored every moment of it. But alas, he knew that all good things must come to an end.

With a soft whistle, he lazily walked up to his car (that was surreptitiously parked next to a large bush), and opened the driver's side door… which he promptly closed again.

"... I must be getting tired from all the work." The former agent tried to convince himself as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

It didn't take long for him to reach for the door once again. But this time, his movements were slow and deliberate, much akin to poking a sleeping beast.

After a soft click, he gingerly opened the door, hoping against hope that what he saw inside was just a figment of his imagination… pity it wasn't.

[Hello!]

As his steel grey eyes met his car's current occupant's mismatched eyes, he could feel all the telltale signs of the ever-familiar headache on its way.

"Miss Neo… what _are_ you doing here?" The young man groaned out. It only took a moment for him to get his answer.

[I'm here to see you silly!] She even gave him a wink as she held her scroll out.

"And how exactly did you find me?" The young man asked, his voice muffled due to his hand that was currently palming his face.

But instead of "answering" him, the diminutive girl simply reached over to the glove compartment and fished out the driver's manual. While he was silently raising his eyebrows in mild confusion, she seemed to find what she was looking for as she held out the book, opened up to a certain page.

A page that had a small button-like device taped onto it.

… that was blinking.

… making it look suspiciously like a tracking device.

A loud sigh escaped the young man, as he stared annoyingly at the device.

But when he tried to reach for the small device, she quickly pulled the manual away, hugging it closely to her chest, all the while giving him a challenging grin.

Despite the increasing twitch of his brows, Yury simply settled for a mildly painful flick of her forehead. The resounding sound of _twack_ of his finger meeting her forehead was just about soothing enough to lift his mood, and make him chuckle in light amusement.

He had to dodge a set of small throwing knives and a swipe from a parasol for his trouble however.

[To treat a maiden's body so roughly only after our second date… you beast!] She "cried" out in outrage before falling helplessly on the ground as she shielded her body away from the young man.

Her only reply from the former agent was a soft scoff and an eye roll.

"Said's the 'maiden' who sexually assaulted me within 10 minutes of our first meeting." Yury calmly replied as he walked past the girl on the ground to enter his car, ignoring the pout that was being sent his way.

Shortly after starting his car however, a sound of the passenger side door opening drew his attention to his right… only to find it occupied by the diminutive girl.

When he raised his brows in a questioning manner, all he got out of her was her blowing a raspberry at him before being presented with her reply of being called a [Beast].

With a dismissive shrug, he began his drive back to Vale.

The drive back was surprisingly uneventful, considering how "chatty" she tended to be sometimes. But it was a comfortable silence, perhaps born out of subconscious mutual understanding between the two assassins.

For Yury, it was pleasant to say the least. And had he been with any other woman, he might even go as far as to dare say, romantic.

A relaxing drive down a scarlet forest in a supercar with an admittedly cute lady into the sunset?

' _How cliché.'_ He thought amusedly.

But speaking of _scarlet_ and _lady_ , his thoughts strayed into a certain princess.

Both of them has been rather busy as of late, the princess with her studies and training and Yury with being back in the field, so they haven't had any real chance to meet like back in Mistral.

' _At least she was understanding about it.'_ The young man mused. And if he was being perfectly honest, he didn't expect his childish little princess (to him at least) to be so accepting of the whole situation.

He's expected at least a few guilt trips and temper tantrums from her.

While she certainly made her discontent abundantly clear, she never pushed the issue too hard unlike the many times when they were in Mistral. Well, although he's never admitted it, he does remember sort of _hinting_ at the possibility of him going back on the field all those weeks ago when she first ran into him.

But she did make him promise to call her whenever he could.

And she would always answer.

They wouldn't talk about anything too important, but mundane things like how they were, or in her case, mostly about his well-being.

He thought it was rather cute of her to be so happy about getting a simple phone call… and he supposed he didn't mind the small distraction it provided either.

Though lately, she has been rather insistent about knowing when exactly he would be home this weekend, much to his confusion. And her almost giddy tone when he told her he would be home this Saturday (i.e. today) was not anymore revealing either.

But before he could think any more deeply about it, a small tug on his sleeve drew his attention to the side.

[I'm hungry.] Neo "complained", as she gave him a look of an abandoned kitten on a sidewalk. [I'm hungry.] She emphasized by further presenting her scroll to the young man.

The young man sighed in exasperation as he glanced at the clock.

It was almost 8 p.m.

"Once we reach the city, I'll take you to a restaurant that I know." the young man replied. He too was getting a bit hungry as well anyway.

[Thanks for the treat Honey! I love you! ]

A muted groan was her only reply.

* * *

While there were many downsides working as a glorified errand boy for a nation's military commander, there certainly were few perks that made the whole ordeal a little bit more bearable.

" _Haa…_ " A content sigh softly rang out the young man's throat as he savored the taste of his wine.

In front of him were what most would consider a first-class gourmet meal… and they would be correct. The succulent high-quality steak that was grilled to perfection, combined with the sauce made from finely aged balsamic vinegar was enough to wash away whatever fatigue he might have had from his work. And the wine that has been aged for 84 years complemented the steak unlike anything he's tasted before, pushing the whole experience over to the _divine_ realm.

The view certainly didn't hurt either.

 _The Painted Heaven_ was located on top of a one of the tallest finance buildings in Vale, providing its clientele with stunning views that was beautiful to look at whether it was a day, or like now, night.

But if he had to complain, then it would be the eye-popping price tag that came with it. Most people had to save up for months in order to afford a meal for a single person, notwithstanding the amount of time they had to wait to reserve a seat during a dinner time.

Luckily for Yury however, such factors were a non-issue for him.

Shortly after the purchase of his current penthouse and his car, he found himself almost buried with mountains of what basically were scam mails. But amongst the piles upon piles of what essentially amounted to scrap papers, he noticed something.

It was a letter encased in a black envelope with elegant golden markings framing its edges… it was a formal invitation from _The Painted Heaven,_ asking him if he wanted to become one of its executive members.

One of its perk included a permanent reserved seat for him to come at any time he wished, however many times he wished.

He obviously did the right thing and signed up for it right away.

Although it came with the annual fee of 50,000 Lien (and other few additional fees), money wasn't an issue.

After all, he had _that_.

The invincible black credit card issued by the esteemed General himself (that he's come dangerously close to losing… again).

Well, technically it _was_ classified under food expenses… Hey, what could he say? He did at times demand finer things in life after all.

And speaking of someone enjoying finer things…

Across from the table was the little shadow that's been following him around, enjoying her ice cream in muted glee.

' _She has been surprisingly "quiet".'_ He idly mused. The irony was not lost on him.

Ever since the first bite of her ice cream, she has been completely "silent". Her eyes were slightly glazed over, while her cheeks were loosened into a content smile.

For the first time in the admittedly short period he's known her, she looked _happy_.

It was enough to elicit a small smile himself, before he too went back to his meal.

It was the small happiness like this that kept the assassins like them sane (somewhat) after all.

* * *

"Well then Miss Neo, I wish you safe travels on your way back." The young man bid the young woman his farewell as he entered his car.

At least he tried to.

A delicate, yet strong hand that was holding his jacket was preventing him from doing so.

"What is it _now_ , Miss Neo?" Yury sighed out, his tone tinged with subtle annoyance. "I'd rather go home and sleep if you don't mind."

However, instead of her usual teasing or suggestive "replies", she simply handed him a letter.

While he did raise his brows in mild suspicion, he accepted the letter nonetheless.

When he finished reading the said letter, the young man couldn't help but let out an annoyed sigh as he massaged his temple.

"Tell him to go along with her plans for now." He replied, but not before fixing her with an accusatory stare. "Couldn't you have given this to me at the forest?" Yury pointed out, his tone dripping with mild exasperation.

[I was bored.] Was her curt yet playful reply as she shattered into countless glass shards, but not before she blew him a kiss.

"Of course you were…" The young man sighed out to the now empty parking lot as he looked over the letter one last time.

 _To my devilish friend,_

 _I have been ordered to hold a rally for the animals in four days in time at 6 p.m. by our mutual "friend". If you need me to do anything, inform Neo about it._

 _-R.T.-_

* * *

 **AN** : For the past 9 month, I have fallen into the bottomless abyss known as fanfic and LNs, and only now just managed to climb myself back out. Thank you for being so encouraging and patient. I am back (for now), and while I can't promise any scheduled updates, I will try to get them up as soon as possible. I am only a human after all. As always, don't be afraid to ask me any questions if you have any.

* * *

 **Omake**

By the time Yury came home, it was already past 2 a.m.

But despite the time, he had a guest. And judging by the aura signature, it was someone he knew intimately well.

' _What is she doing here at this ungodly hour?'_ He thought as he lazily opened his front door.

The place was dark, save for the dim light coming from the kitchen.

With a curious shrug, he quietly ambled to his kitchen.

But once there, the young man couldn't help but raise his brows in mild confusion as he looked around.

Nothing really seemed out of place. The kitchen was clean, the countertop was clean, the utensils were in their appropriate place, and pretty much everything else was in proper order… well, except for the obvious.

There she was, Pyrrha Nikos in all her glory, gently snoring away on his kitchen table.

Yet that was not all.

In front of her, was a small cake. A small cake that read, _Happy Birthday!_

' _Was today her birthday?'_ He silently panicked as he wracked his brain. However, no matter how hard he thought about it, it wasn't (much to his relief).

There was a time where he _almost_ missed it… she still brings it up occasionally.

But that begs the question, if it wasn't her birthday, then whose was it?

It wasn't the princess', and judging by the distinct lack of her teammates, it wasn't theirs either… then who-

Then it hit him.

It was his.

Granted, it wasn't his real birthday as he's forgotten about them long time ago. After all, who would bother to remember a birthday of a nameless street rat?

So when the young champion asked for his birthday shortly after their first meeting, the young man simply made one up on the spot… which happened to be today.

' _Really… what a cheeky little brat.'_ He silently "complained", never noticing the small smile that was beginning to form.

It wasn't the first time she's done this as well.

Ever Since their time in Mistral, she never forgot about the random date that he's told her on a whim.

His eyes silently traveled to the cake. _Never did she fail to bake him a cake herself on this day._

His eyes glided to the little box that was placed next to the cake. _And never did she fail to bring him a present on this day._

' _Really, so cheeky…'_ A small, yet fond smile was adorning his lips as he gently patted her head (an action that he didn't seem to realize that he was doing).

But as things stood, it was too late to have something like a party and a cake. Hence, after placing the cake in the fridge, he moved to gently pick up the princess in a bridal carry.

It was her favorite after all.

As if to confirm, the young girl began to snuggle into his embrace, releasing a content sigh in the progress.

But problem arose once he got to the guest room.

She simply refused to let him go.

Whenever the young man would try to gently pry her off, she would simply tighten her hold on him. Whenever he tried to "reason" with her by whisper-arguing, she would simply whine like a puppy and ignored him entirely.

In the end, he relented.

With one last sigh, he joined her on the bed. "Don't get used to this kid." He weakly complained. But despite his "warning", it didn't take her long to attach herself completely to him.

A content sigh escaped her as she snuggled deeper into his chest.

After a exasperated eye roll, the young man settled in to get some sleep himself. But just as he was about to fall asleep, a sound of murmuring woke him up slightly.

"What's that?" He tiredly asked purely on reflex, not really expecting an answer.

"Hai… berr.." She murmured, still deeply asleep.

"What?" He prodded again.

"Hap..py birr...th day"

When he finally understood the message, he couldn't help but tighten his hold on her ever so slightly.

"Thanks, kid." He replied in kind, he too gaining a content smile (albeit much muted compared to the princess) as he joined her in the realm of Morpheus.


End file.
